This aerial picture taken on November 15, 2023, shows the Thilafushi Island in the Maldives
"The fact that sea level is rising, with erosion taking away sand from the coastal area does result in the loss of land area in some islands" of the Maldives, he said., a professor of coastal geography at La Rochelle University in France and lead author of a United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change chapter on small islands