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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