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Sri Lanka, India and Maldives take part in trilateral maritime exercise.

The continued accumulation of sand within the iconic ring-shaped reefs inside Maldivian atolls could provide a foundation for future island development new research suggests. Islands like the Maldives are considered likely to be the first to feel the effects of climate change induced sea level rise, with future island growth essential to counter the threat of rising sea levels.

Maldives: In a Troubled Paradise, Time Runs Out on Environmental Deadline.

Why an Indian ocean deep sea mission will help the Maldives and Seychelles manage their oceans.

In pics: World's largest fish travels from Gujarat, reaches Maldives in 100 days.

Blue carbon is fast garnering international interest for its disproportionate contribution to global carbon stocks. However, our understanding of the size of these blue carbon stocks, as well as the provenance of carbon that is stored within them, is still poor. This is especially pertinent for many small-island nations that may have substantial blue carbon ecosystems that are poorly studied. Here, we present a preliminary assessment of blue carbon from three islands in the Maldives. The higher purpose of this research was to assess the feasibility of using blue carbon to help offset carbon emissions associated with Maldivian tourism, the largest Maldivian industry with one of the highest destination-based carbon footprints, globally. We used stable isotope mixing models to identify how habitats contributed to carbon found in sediments, and Loss on Ignition (LoI) to determine carbon content. We found that for the three surveyed islands, seagrasses (Thalassia hemprichii, Thalassodendron ciliatum, Halodule pinofilia, Syringodium isoetifolium, and Cymodocea rotundata) were the main contributors to sediment blue carbon (55 - 72%) while mangroves had the lowest contribution (9 - 44%). Surprisingly, screw pine (Pandanus spp.), a relative of palm trees found across many of these islands, contributed over a quarter of the carbon found in sediments. Organic carbon content ('blue carbon') was 6.8 ± 0.3 SE % and 393 ± 29 tonnes ha-1 for mangrove soils, and 2.5 ± 0.2% and 167 ± 20 tonnes ha-1 for seagrasses, which is slightly higher than global averages. While preliminary, our results highlight the importance of seagrasses as carbon sources in Maldivian blue carbon ecosystems, and the possible role that palms such as screw pines may have in supplementing this. Further research on Maldivian blue carbon ecosystems is needed to: 1) map current ecosystem extent and opportunities for additionality through conservation and restoration; 2) determine carbon sequestration ra

In the Maldives, an MIT team is conducting experiments to combat sea-level rise by redirecting natural sand movement.

Low-lying coral reef islands have been projected to become uninhabitable by the end of the century due to sea level rise, but such projections of vulnerability assume that reef islands are static landforms that flood incrementally with sea level rise. In fact, GIS-based reef island shoreline analyses have demonstrated that reef islands are highly dynamic landforms that may adjust their shorelines in response to changing environmental conditions. However, the vast majority of reef island shoreline analyses have been undertaken in the Pacific Ocean, leaving our understanding of changes in the Indian Ocean more limited. Further, our knowledge of how island dynamics can impact groundwater resources is restricted due to the assumption that islands will exhibit purely erosional responses to sea level rise. Here, we analyse shoreline evolution on 49 reef islands over a 50-year timeframe in Huvadhoo Atoll, Maldives. Additionally, rates of shoreline change were used to undertake numerical modelling of shifts in freshwater lens volume in 2030, 2050 and 2100 in response to changes in recharge. Despite sea level rising at 4.24 mm/year (1969-2019), accretion was prevalent on 53% of islands, with the remaining islands eroding (25%) or remaining stable (22%). Average net shoreline movement was 4.13 m, ranging from -17.51 to 65.73 m; and the average rate of shoreline change (weighted linear regression) was 0.13 m/year, ranging from -0.07 to 2.65 m/year. The magnitudes and rates of reef island evolution were found to be highly site-specific, with island type found to be the only significant predictor of either net shoreline movement or weighted linear regression. Results suggest that freshwater lens volume was substantially impacted by shoreline change compared to changes in recharge whereby accretion and erosion led to large increases (up to 65.05%) decreases (up to -50.4%) in les volume, respectively. We suggest that the capacity of reef islands to both (1) adjust their shorelines

Analysis of the literature revealed authors from countries with large coral reef systems, such as The Maldives, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, are underrepresented.

Tuna regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) have long suffered from the domination of distant water fishing nations (DWFNs) in decision-making processes. The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) is no exception. In recent years, coastal states of the Indian Ocean (IO) have tried to change this dynamic - led by countries like the Maldives, Kenya, South Africa, and Australia - to deliver greater benefits to the region, including East Africa. These countries are gathered under the informal group of G16 and have increasingly improved their involvement in the IOTC. Here, we ask how the rise of the G16 benefited coastal States through participation and collective understanding in the Indian Ocean. To do this, we analyzed proposals submitted by the G16 for conservation and management measures and the participant lists of the Commission meetings in the past ten years. Our results show that, individually and collectively, the G16 has played a significant role in shaping the IOTC's rules. The coastal States have established a good representation, with only a handful of Members absent in some years. Unveiling the efforts of coastal countries is essential to guide further capacity building in the region in terms of negotiations. We also call for international oversight of the actions of DWFNs, such as the EU, whose efforts often differ markedly from their claims of being sustainability champions. The G16's work is essential to keep the coastal States of the Indian Ocean in the driver's seat for managing Indian Ocean fisheries to benefit future generations.

Environment and energy minister of small island state, one of the countries most at risk of global warming impacts, says 'no time to waste' on Paris deal

Environment and energy minister of small island state, one of the countries most at risk of global warming impacts, says 'no time to waste' on Paris deal

Saving olive ridleys of the Indian Ocean.

The present study is the first completed and taxonomically validated literature review of the biodiversity of barnacles (Cirripedia) in India. A total of 144 species in 75 genera and 19 families have been recorded in India. The highest number of species has been recorded from the Bay of Bengal province, located on the eastern side of the Indian Peninsula, comprising the Eastern India ecoregion (76 species) and Northern Bay of Bengal ecoregion (34 species). The West and South India Shelf province has fewer species (Western India ecoregion: 29 species; South India and Sri Lanka ecoregion: 40 species; and Maldives ecoregion: 10 species) compared to the Bay of Bengal province. The Andaman province is composed of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and contains 65 species. Most of the coral-associated barnacles (family Pyrgomatidae) have been recorded in the corals reefs of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (7 species), Eastern India (6 species), and Northern Bay of Bengal ecoregions (5 species). Sponge-associated barnacles (mostly in the subfamily Acastinae) were recorded in the Eastern India ecoregion, Southern India and Sri Lanka, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands ecoregions. Deepwater species were recorded the most extensively in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands ecoregion (21 species), followed by the South India and Sri Lanka ecoregion (9 species) and Eastern India ecoregion (7 species). Six Atlantic/boreal cold water species previously reported in India were removed due to incorrect identification, and some incorrectly identified species were validated and corrected.