The Maldives Covered by the Sea Within 30 Years
AFP: Seas 'Threatening to Completely Cover' the Maldives Within 30 Years. 30 Years On, Still Above Water
An AFP dispatch from Male said the sea could cover all 1,196 islands within 30 years, and drinking water might run out by 1992. Both deadlines passed. The islands are still there.
What was said
“A gradual rise in average sea level is threatening to completely cover this Indian Ocean nation of 1196 small islands within the next 30 years, according to authorities.”
— Maldivian government authorities (as reported by Agence France-Presse in The Canberra Times) · said Sep 26, 1988 · due 30 years from September 26, 1988 (September 2018)
Busted. The 30 years ran out in September 2018 and the Maldives was still above water. The 1992 drinking-water deadline had passed first.
The Story
AFP report from Male, printed as 'Threat to islands' in The Canberra Times on September 26, 1988 (p. 6). The Environmental Affairs Director, Hussein Shihab, said a rise of 20 to 30 centimetres in the next 20 to 40 years 'could be "catastrophic"'.
The report added that 'the end of the Maldives and its 200,000 people could come sooner if drinking water supplies dry up by 1992, as predicted.' The popular retelling that 'the UN said the Maldives would be underwater by 2018' is not what this report said.