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A senior Maldives government minister has warned that unless action is taken now his people will become climate refugees, forced to leave their homeland because of the effects of global warming.
Fisheries Minister Dr Hussain Rasheed Hassan was speaking as scientists from the visiting Nekton Mission and their Maldivian counterparts undertake a 35-day expedition to map and sample the waters off the low-lying Indian Ocean nation.
From the air the Maldives is a picture postcard paradise. Pilot whales cutting a graceful dash through sparkling waters. But vital reef systems have been badly impacted by global warming, fracturing natural sea defences.