Sea level rise, a trend that predates the Industrial Revolution, is being blamed on CO2 emissions and has become one of the most potent harangues used to guilt-trip the populace of major industrial countries over the use of carbon-based energy. (Mysteriously, China and India, whose expanding carbon footprints dwarf the expensive reductions engineered with Teslas, windmills, and vegan diets in the West, are largely exempted from criticism.)

We citizens of the advanced countries are instructed that poor residents of tropical islands face inundation because we drive SUVs and chow down on burgers, heedless of the cost to people struggling to stay alive on coral reef atolls. There are even demands for reparations.

One of the island chains most cited as a victim of our CO2 is the Maldives, with almost 1,200 islands in the Indian Ocean. The Union of Concerned Scientists lectures us:

As the flattest country on Earth, the Republic of Maldives is extremely vulnerable to rising sea level and faces the very real possibility that the majority of its land area will be underwater by the end of this century.4,9,16,18 Today, the white sand beaches and extensive coral reefs of the Maldives' 1,190 islands draw more than 600,000 tourists annually.2 § Sea level rise is likely to worsen existing environmental stresses in the Maldives, such as periodic flooding from storm surge, and a scarcity of freshwater for drinking and other purposes.5,11 § Given mid–level scenarios for global warming emissions,17 the Maldives is projected to experience sea level rise on the order of 1.5 feet (half a meter)—and to lose some 77 percent of its land area—by around the year 2100.4,9 If sea level were instead to rise by 3 feet (1 meter), the Maldives could be almost completely inundated by about 2085.18 § The Maldivian government has identified many potential strategies for adapting to rising seas, but is also considering relocating its people to a new homeland.19,20

Yet, one of the strategies of the Maldives is the construction of five airports to bring in tourists. The Maldives Insider:

Five new airports will come into operation by the end of the year, Maldives government announced Sunday. Transport minister Aishath Nahula told local media that construction of airports on the islands of Kulhudhuffushi in Haa Dhaal atoll, Funadhoo in Shaviyani atoll, Maafaru in Noonu atoll, Madivaru in Lhaviyani atoll and Maavarulu in Gaaf Dhaal atoll is nearing completion. Kulhudhuffushi airport will come into operation first, followed by Funadhoo and Maafaru airport in August, she said. The airport being developed in Kulhudhuffushi, a key population zone in the north, and in Maafaru, a proposed ultra-luxury tourism zone, had earlier welcomed test flights. However, delays in the construction of terminal and other support facilities had pushed back commercial operations. Six hectares off the southern coast of Kulhudhuffushi and another nine hectares from the island's wetlands were reclaimed for the airport, which has a runway measuring 1,200 metres in length and 60 metres in width.

Maafuru Island, with its new airport on the seashore.

Photo credit: Google Maps.

Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit has coined an immortal rejoinder for warmists who talk a good line about the global warming threat but live their lives as if it doesn't exist (Al Gore's multiple energy-consuming mansions, Robert F. Kennedy's private jet use, for example) that applies to nations like the Maldives: