The Shape of the Sea

The Shape of the Sea explores the human cost of coastal change in the Maldives, documenting vanishing beaches and scarred reefs, and the communities impacted. It is a portrait of life on islands at the edge of change.

The Maldives is often imagined as a paradise of white sand and turquoise seas. But for Maldivians, the reality is one of collapsing beaches, stagnating mangroves, and dying reefs - losses made worse by reclamation and dredging projects that prioritise development over sustainability. With little official monitoring or impact reporting, the changes are recorded instead in lived memory and community testimony.

In Ukulhas, dredging has altered wave patterns and accelerated erosion, stripping sand from the only non-tourist beach and causing shoreline buildings to collapse. Local surfer Ghazeel, just 20 and a new father, worries whether the island will remain habitable for his daughter. His friend Aiman fears he may never be able to raise a family here at all.

In Addu City, nearly 184 hectares of land have been reclaimed around Hithadhoo and Feydhoo. Promised as development, much of it lies barren, while shorelines, water flows, and reefs bear the cost. For Layaan, of youth-led Project ThimaaVeshi, the loss is deeply personal: her family home now floods with every rain, and her childhood picnic island has been swallowed by reclamation.

Across the atoll in Hulhumeedhoo, members of the local NGO Nalafehi Meedhoo mourn a beach lost to erosion and wetlands now under threat. Without formal governmental studies, these young protectors are left to monitor mangroves and lakes themselves, burdened with documenting a slow, quiet disappearance without support.

On Fuvahmulah, the erosion of the Thundi pebble beach has become alarmingly fast, destabilising the coast. A $19.5 million seawall project began in 2021, yet the trade-offs have been severe. In 2023, a barge grounding caused catastrophic reef damage near dive sites, devastating a reef known for its unusually high coral coverage. Local silversmith Shanu and dive guide Ricky describe not only vanishing sand and murky waters, but also the grief of watching a thriving ecosystem scarred.

For Maldivians, these are not distant environmental statistics, but an urgent loss of place, memory, and livelihood. With little official documentation to account for what is disappearing, young islanders have become the record-keepers, with the burden of evidence placed on them - to acknowledge their stories is to share the weight of witnessing the changing shape of the sea.