this is a city of 250,000 people crammed into a space more densely populated than manhattan. and it s completely hectic. it s so packed, it s hard to get a sense of how developed it is until you get a little bit of distance. there s not an inch of space left. so much so that they built another island just to house all the people. this is hulhumale, built to cope with an ever growing population just 15 years ago. but how do you build an island? to find out, i went on a brand new one. so, we re standing on an artificial island? exactly. two and a half years ago, - this was a very small sandbank and you ve reclaimed it by dredging sand from the ocean? we ve dredged sand - from the nearby lagoon. and right now, this is the size of eight football fields. - how much sand do
on a brand new one. so, we re standing on an artificial island? exactly. two and a half years ago, - this was a very small sandbank which has been artificially- reclaimed into an island now. and you ve reclaimed it by dredging sand from the ocean? we ve dredged sand - from the nearby lagoon. and right now, this is the size of eight football fields. - how much sand do you need to do that? we have put in almost the equivalent of 100 i olympic swimming pools. this will soon be a luxury resort. but the trouble with building this way is it massively damages the environment. disturbed sand sediments can smother the very corals that the maldives relies on for protection. the more you dredge, the worse the erosion becomes. to see the effects this is having on the local population, i m travelling to the island of dhiffushi. there are no resorts here, just simple guest houses.
but how do you build an island? to find out, i went on a brand new one. so, we re standing on an artificial island? exactly. two and a half years ago, - this was a very small sandbank which has been artificially- reclaimed into an island now. and you ve reclaimed it by dredging sand from the ocean? we ve dredged sand - from the nearby lagoon. and right now, this is the size of eight football fields. - how much sand do you need to do that? we have put in almost the equivalent of 100 i olympic swimming pools. this will soon be a luxury resort. but the trouble with building this way is it massively damages the environment. disturbed sand sediments can smother the very corals that the maldives relies
populated than manhattan. and it s completely hectic. it s so packed, it s hard to get a sense of how developed it is until you get a little bit of distance. there s not an inch of space left. so much so that they built another island just to house all the people. this is hulhumale, built to cope with an ever growing population just 15 years ago. but how do you build an island? to find out, i went on a brand new one. so, we re standing on an artificial island? exactly. two and a half years ago, - this was a very small sandbank which has been artificially- reclaimed into an island now. and you ve reclaimed it by dredging sand from the ocean? we ve dredged sand - from the nearby lagoon. and right now, this is the size of eight football fields. -
island just to house all the people. this is hulhumale, built to cope with an ever growing population just 15 years ago. but how do you build an island? to find out, i went on a brand new one. so, we re standing on an artificial island? exactly. two and a half years ago, - this was a very small sandbank which has been artificially- reclaimed into an island now. and you ve reclaimed it by dredging sand from the ocean? we ve dredged sand - from the nearby lagoon. and right now, this is the size of eight football fields. - how much sand do you need to do that? we have put in almost the equivalent of 100 olympic swimming pools. - this will soon be a luxury resort. but the trouble with building this way is it massively