MALDIVES ISSUES ''CLIMATE REFUGEE'' WARNING

STORY: MALDIVES CLIMATE REFUGEES NEWSROOM READY VERSION
HEADLINE: MALDIVES ISSUES “CLIMATE REFUGEES” WARNING
DURATION: 2.35
SOURCE: NEKTON
RESTRICTIONS: Free access on all platforms in perpetuity/ no archive resales. Mandatory on screen credit “Courtesy of Nekton” 

STORYLINE:

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. 

The Maldives fisheries minister says the world has to pay attention right now

SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH)   HUSSAIN RASHEED HASSAN, MALDIVES FISHERIES MINISTER “ We have to wake up and take action so that nations like Maldives will exist . Maldivians are determined to stay in this archipelago. We really do not want to leave this archipelago and become climate refugees elsewhere “.

Maldivians face losing their island homes because of a climate crisis they did not create - a fact not lost on neighbouring nations.

SOUNDBITE(ENGLISH) Asha de Vos, Sri Lankan Marine Scientist: “One of the key things is the idea of climate refugees, when they lose their land, where do they go and we know that our region is available to support the people here.But no one wants to have to lose their homes as a result of others outside their own boundaries.”

One theory to make islands more resilient to global warming may lie in Nekton discovering new corals.But which species in the deep could help their shallower cousins?

SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) HUSSAIN RASHEED HASSAN, MALDIVES FISHERIES MINISTER “More resilient corals so that our reefs will survive for the future“.

Whether corals can be brought from the deep to mend damaged shallow reefs is a matter of scientific discussion.

Efforts to rebuild are already underway in the shallows. At Soneva Fushi eco-resort the process involves nursing and re-generating injured corals then painstakingly returning them to the reef as healthy specimens.

It is a race against time to mitigate the impact of increasingly violent storm surges across this vast archipelago.

Every new coral, delicately re-attached, is another step closer to cementing the Maldives’ future so its citizens can continue to call it home.

STORY: MALDIVES CLIMATE REFUGEES CONSUMER READY VERSION
HEADLINE: MALDIVES ISSUES “CLIMATE REFUGEES” WARNING
DURATION 2.02 
SOURCE: NEKTON
RESTRICTIONS: Free access on all platforms in perpetuity/ no archive resales

3 VERSIONS: 16:9, 1:1, 9:16 – Available at www.apmultimedianewsroom.com

STORYLINE:

A senior Maldives government minister has warned that unless action is taken now his countrymen 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.

SUBTITLES

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. 

The Maldives fisheries minister says the world has to pay attention right now

SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH)  DR HUSSAIN RASHEED HASSAN, MALDIVES FISHERIES MINISTER “ We have to wake up and take action so that nations like Maldives will exist . Maldivians are determined to stay in this archipelago. We really do not want to leave this archipelago and become climate refugees elsewhere “.

Maldivians face losing their island homes because of a climate crisis they did not create - a fact not lost on neighbouring nations.

SOUNDBITE(ENGLISH ) ASHA DE VOS, SRI LANKAN MARINE SCIENTIST

“One of the key things is the idea of climate refugees, when they lose their land, where do they go and we know that our region is available to support the people here.But no one wants to have to lose their homes as a result of others outside their own boundaries.”

One theory to make islands more resilient to global warming may lie in Nekton discovering new corals.

But which species in the deep could help their shallower cousins?

SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) DR HUSSAIN RASHEED HASSAN, MALDIVES FISHERIES MINISTER

“More resilient corals so that our reefs will survive for the future“.

Whether corals can be brought from the deep to mend damaged shallow reefs is a matter of scientific discussion.

Efforts to rebuild are already underway in the shallows

At Soneva Fushi eco-resort the process involves nursing and re-generating injured corals then painstakingly returning them to the reef as healthy specimens.

It is a race against time to mitigate the impact of increasingly violent storm surges across this vast archipelago.

Every new coral, delicately re-attached, is another step closer to cementing the Maldives’ future so its citizens can continue to call it home.

SHOT LIST

1. Aerial Soneva Fushi eco resort
2. Pilot whales swimming of Laamu Atoll
3. Corals off Fulhadhoo
4. Hussain Rasheed Hassan, Maldives Fisheries Minister
5. Two shot minister and interviewer
6. SOUNDBITE (English)  Hussain Rasheed Hassan, Maldives Fisheries Minister: "I think we have to wake up and take action so that nations like Maldives will exist. Maldivians are determined to stay in this archipelago. We really do not want to leave this archipelago and become climate refugees elsewhere."
7. Fulhadhoo island aerials
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Asha de Vos, Sri Lankan Marine Scientist: "One of the key things is the idea of climate refugees, when they lose their land, where do they go and we know that our region is available to support the people here.But no one wants to have to lose their homes as a result of others outside their own boundaries."
9. Coral reefs viewed by Nekton aquanauts aboard the Omega Seamaster II submersible in Laamu Atoll, Maldives
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Hussain Rasheed Hassan, Maldives Fisheries Minister: "More resilient corals that we can propagate and grow so that our reefs will survive for the future."
11. House reef at Soneva Fushi being rebuilt by attaching corals saved from the waves then re-attaching them to replace coral lost to storm damage.
12. Kihaadhoo Harbour aerial shot

To download the media briefing in full, please click through on the link below:

Media Briefing