Environmental Systems and Societies · Case studies

ECS.12 — Tuvalu and the Maldives: climate impacts and adaptation

Environmental Systems and Societies · SL / HL · syllabus-mapped notes

1. Overview

   Two low-lying island nations on the front line of sea-level rise: least responsible for climate change, most exposed to it.

2. Systems and sustainability angle

   How rising seas, salt water and coral loss threaten the physical basis of atoll societies, and what limits their resilience.

3. Management and response

   Adaptation on the ground: sea walls, reclaimed land and freshwater security, and the last resort of migration.

4. HL lens angle

   Climate justice: the ethics of responsibility, vulnerability and obligations to future generations.