Maldives eyes floating homes

The Maldives faces the threat of extinction from rising sea levels, but the government said last Thursday it was looking to the future with plans to build homes and a golf course that float. An increase in sea levels of just 18 to 59 centimetres would...

The Maldives faces the threat of extinction from rising sea levels, but the government said last Thursday it was looking to the future with plans to build homes and a golf course that float.

An increase in sea levels of just 18 to 59 centimetres would make the Maldives - a nation of tiny coral islands in the Indian Ocean - virtually uninhabitable by 2100, the UN's climate change panel has warned.

President Mohamed Nasheed has vowed a fight for survival, and last month he signed a deal with a Dutch company to study proposals for a floating structure that could support a convention centre, homes and an 18-hole golf course.

The company, Dutch Docklands, is currently building floating developments in the Netherlands and Dubai.

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