will also see religious leaders from otherfaiths play a part for the first time. now on bbc news, extreme conservation: the maldives. i'm michaela strachan, a wildlife presenter with a passion for conservation. for the past 35 years, my work has taken me all over the world and in that time, i've seen huge changes — many due to climate change. in extreme conservation, we travel to different countries, meeting inspirational people... hello! ..with new ideas. this time, i'm in the maldives. this seems like paradise but behind all the beauty and the luxury lodges lies a very real and looming threat, and that's climate change, which is literally washing these stunning coral islands off the map. as soon as they realise i'm from the maldives, they're like, "oh, when is it sinking? "i got to get there before it sinks." the maldives needs solutions, and it needs them fast. our islands are eroding at an alarming rate. we depend solely on our coral reefs for income, for protection, and for our survival, as well. i travel across the islands to meet some inspirational people with exciting ideas, seeing the radical new ways to bring coral reefs back to life, and a completely new, sustainable way of reclaiming much—needed land. this is extreme conservation — the maldives. the maldives is located about 500km south of india in the indian ocean. it's made up of almost 1,200 islands that sit within these circular formations called atolls. and it's these low—lying islands that the maldives has become famous for. seaplanes are the fastest way to get around. but for most visitors and locals, boats are used to island—hop. these islands may be beautiful but they're precariously close to disappearing into the ocean. most of these islands have been affected by erosion and the prediction is that by 2050, 80% of them could become uninhabitable. without coral reefs to protect them, the maldivian islands are in danger of being washed into the ocean. my first stop is fulhadhoo, an island only 6km long and just 250m wide. seeing this sandbag barrier on arrival, you start to understand the battle these islanders are facing. coral and coral reefs are what makes these islands but they are facing huge challenges, so the first person i'm going to meet is someone who's made it their life's passion to protect and nurture corals. thanks. this island has a population of a few hundred people. it's so thin, any erosion can have a dramatic effect on their lives. hello! i'm going on a field trip with aya naseem and her team. aya is a marine biologist at the maldives coral institute. she's taking me to see one of their coral projects that they hope may offer a solution in maintaining the health of these life—giving reefs. so, for the maldives, all our islands are protected by coral. if you can see, like, where the waves are breaking, sometimes then, you'll get really big waves coming in. but it all gets dissipated by that whole layer of coral that you see there. by the time it reaches the shore, it's really low impact and it's not going to erode the beach so much. so, the coral reef is an important natural barrier to stop the erosion of the beaches? that's right — it's our first line of defence. so, what's damaging the coral reefs? unsustainable development — that's a big problem. climate change issues with coral bleaching. a bleaching event is when the coral dies en masse due to unusually warm sea temperatures. one of the biggest ones was the first one in 1998, which affected about — more than 90% of our coral. and we did get a lot of recovery but then, these events are getting more and more frequent. so, we had one in 2010 and then, we had another one 2015—16 and now, we're bracing ourselves for another event. but amid this bleaching onslaught, the team has made an important and unexpected discovery — some of the corals in fulhadhoo have managed to survive. they show high thermal resilience because they've been surviving in — in these conditions and in really shallow waters that leave them exposed at low tide. so, they're now planting more of these resilient corals. growing coral is a bit like underwater gardening. small, fallen—off fragments are collected and attached to these sand—coated steel structures. from there, with a bit of luck, they grow and flourish. it looks stunning! thank you. i mean, already, in six months, it's looking beautiful. how long do you think it will be before that is a full coral reef? i mean, how many years down the line are we looking? two or three years, we're hoping because already, they've grown so much. yeah. so, around two to three years, you won't be able to see the frames any more, so looking forward to that. you can see from the colours — the blues and the purples — that this is really working. this is what coral should look like. and if they can be kept alive even as the sea levels rise, they can keep pace, grow upwards and protect these islands. but as warm—weather bleaching events become more frequent, the corals get very little time to recover, let alone grow. and bleaching isn't the only threat they face. it's easy to forget that a coral reef is a living thing and just like us, to stay healthy, it needs to eat well. now, we all know the stories of the damage that plastic does to other marine life but, believe it or not, it can also damage a coral reef because it ingests this stuff in the form of microplastics and obviously, that does it no good at all. thanks. tourism in the maldives has been expanding rapidly since the 1970s — it went from only 60 beds to 60,000 — and plastic waste has become an enormous problem. but ground—breaking ways to deal with it are emerging. i'm off to soneva fushi, an exclusive destination for the super rich. but despite all the luxury, this resort is surprisingly a pioneer for ecotourism. where did the vision come from? because it started 25 years ago for you? yes, yeah. so, um...i met my wife when i was still at university at oxford. she'd been to the maldives on a modelling shoot in the early �*80s. so, we came for the first time. it was a very simple destination in those days and nothing was sustainable because they had a very, very tight budget. so, we decided we could do something a bit more unique and different. and so, they did. rubbish from the surrounding islands is collected and processed here. they try and use every part of a natural resource, like a coconut, and then, as much rubbish as possible is either reused, recycled or upcycled. and guests are invited to take part if they want to. the aluminium cans from drinks become ornaments or door handles. ok, let's see how this has come out. oh, wow — look at that! and how many resorts do you know that have their own glass—blowing studio, where you can turn a wine bottle into a glass and beer bottles into a platter? i think this is what you call high—end artistic upcycling. what they've done here is really impressive. it's inspiring. but you have to remember that this is a luxury resort. there's a lot of finances in this place. and you have to wonder could this be upscaled to use as a production line in other parts of the maldives? the country is making strides, trying to modernise how it manages its waste. but the reality is even for a luxury resort, what to do with plastic is dwarfed by the threat from the sea. so the maldives have been sinking for thousands of years and it's the live coral that's been keeping us alive. so, even if sea levels don't rise but if the coral dies, then eventually, the core of the islands will continue to sink, so our goal is to keep the coral alive. sonu tells me he's started his own marine research institute on the resort. i've come to meet the scientists who are trying a different approach to nurturing the corals back to life. this is one of the largest coral nurseries in the world. thousands of colonies saved from a nearby site have been planted here. aki allahgholi, a former banker turned coral specialist, is leading the project. the goal is to produce, basically, 50,000 corals every year to be outplanted into the environment where they are needed. over the next eight years, until 2030, we try to bring back the diversity and the coral cover we used to have about 25 years ago. to speed up the growth, a very low—voltage electrical current is run through the frames. the technology that we apply here is called the mineral accretion technology. it helps the corals to grow faster, they become more resilient and the survival rates are better. the technology has been around for years and is proven but the challenge now is in applying it on a massive scale. many nurseries use these steel frames to grow corals. thank you very much! bye— bye! take care. but my next destination is experimenting with an alternative approach. i'm on nearby summer island to join the island's dive master, arjan sierink. hi! good to meet you! pleasure! i've heard so much about you! and this is what i've come to see — the world's largest 3d—printed reef. it was made in australia by reef design lab using a ceramic material, and then shipped in small sections to be constructed underwater. took a little while for the corals to get used to the material. they grow slower than the corals. but the corals are very, very strong. a living reef is the most effective natural defence barrier for protecting the islands from erosion. 3d printing allows for rapid testing of new designs to find the best structure for growing corals. the team behind this is now looking to use similar techniques to create other reefs in other parts of the world. as for summer island, this is one of the many different shapes arjan�*s experimenting with and it's incredible how quickly the wildlife has claimed it as its home. his recreated coral oasis was literally swimming with fish species. we're still pioneering, and there are many, many islands, many projects all over the world, to find out how we can make the corals more resilient. the biggest challenge will be to get the people to realise that something big needs to be done. we have to work together. governments, scientists, and all this together, could be the perfect solution. so far, i've been looking at why corals are vital to these islands, and i've been looking at some truly i'm continuing myjourney through the maldives, and i'm leaving the idyllic islands behind to travel to the capital, mali. 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 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. wow, look at this! you can clearly see that the beach is eroded. the beach shouldn't fall off like that. and apparently, that buoy is where the beach used to be. so they've lost at least 15 metres of beach. that's severe. without the beach, the island has become yet more vulnerable to flooding. so, what do you do when you know your island is going to flood once a year? well, these islanders have got the sandbags out and they've tried to make their own defence barrier. aminat houdar is someone who's lived here all her life and witnessed first—hand the effects erosion is having. this is dhiffushi school. you can see it's right near the beach. but because of the erosion, it's now flooding. and in fact, last year, the water came right the way through to the other side and came up to about there. and apparently, every year, it's getting worse. so, is there a better way to create new islands and protect established ones? well, perhaps turning to nature will give us the answer. here in the maldives, sandbanks like this appear and disappear. they constantly change size and shape according to the seasons and the ocean's forces. and that really influences the way that the people live and adapt. in fact, you can see that the locals have really made the most of this particular idyllic paradise. so we have two seasons predominantly in the maldives. one is the south—east and the north—west monsoons. and, you know, literally, during these seasons, we say we see sand shifting and we see sand eroding from one end and then building up on another end. and as a physicist, i thought, you know, can we use this? sarah dole is sri lankan, but has been living in the maldives for over a decade, and has dedicated herself to studying this natural shift of sand to find a way to create islands sustainably. so first of all, you know, we had to study the fundamentals. so at mit, they are studying the fundamental physics and engineering of it. so, like, trying to understand, how does a sandbank actually form? and that, we've done through satellite imagery and drone footage and, you know, talking to other locals around here, trying to understand the historical data of how sandbanks appear and disappear. five years ago, sarah partnered up with the scientists from the self—assembly lab at mit, the massachusetts institute of technology in the us. the growing islands project is about naturally accumulating sand in the ocean without sculpting or pumping sand, but letting the ocean accumulate it on its own and guiding it, or collaborating with the ocean to promote the accumulation in certain areas where you want it or need it. skylar tibbits and his team simulate the conditions of the pacific ocean and the movement of the sand. they place different—shaped objects in the environment to see which is the best at sand—gathering. our hypothesis is that the reason sand accumulates in certain areas and not others is due to the relationship of the geometry underwater and the force of the oceans. and so, what we do is we design different geometries, we test them in the lab, we see which geometries accumulate more sand, and then we implement those at full scale in the maldives. this is the beginnings of a new island built on sandbags. and you can see where the sand has accumulated using the forces of nature. it's been here for about two years. it's 20 metres long, it's about four metres wide and about 1.5 metres above the sea bed. another half—metre and it should pop up above the surface and hopefully just keep growing. each time we go, we try different materials, different construction techniques. the reason for that is because we want to try to make it as scalable as possible. because this is a global problem, it's not only focused on the maldives. so if you really want to have a solution, you need to make it fast, scalable, cheap. and if it works, this sort of deliverable, sustainable solution could be used not only to save the maldives, but many other island nations or coastlines that are also suffering the effects of climate change. fixing it won't be easy. we need to try out new ideas and work together. small is beautiful, and that's how you scale it up. - come here, please. test your innovations, - test your energy solutions, coastal protection and - adaptation measures here, because we welcome it. at my last stop, i'm meeting local children whose futures here in the maldives are very much at stake. what about a triggerfish? zoona is one of the first female diving instructors here. she teaches children about the sea and the marine wildlife to inspire them to protect it. fishes keep the corals alive, actually. if the coral reefs get damaged and we lose the corals, - it's a loss for the nextl generation and the fish won't be alive. the importance of acting now is not lost on these youngsters. 0n myjourney this week throughout the maldives, i've met some truly inspirational people. creative minds that are thinking out of the box. and i've seen some ambitious, pioneering projects. but if they're going to make a difference, they need upscaling. they need a collaborative effort, financial backing and political will. and without that, then life in the maldives for the next generation, for these kids, could be very different. but you know what? i'm excited by what i've seen, and i'm hopeful that at least some of these ideas are going to make a difference, and they're going to help the maldives to draw a line in the sand. for the second month in a row england is heading for a very wet month, some areas seeing nearly double the april average rainfall so far, but in contrast to england, on the far north of scotland just like last month it is turning out to be a dry month with much more sunshine with the temperature higher than average as well. today is another cloudy day with bursts of rain working from west to east across the uk, some heavy downpours are set to move into scotland and northern ireland with the risk of some thunderstorms and hail and hefty showers through the afternoon. at the same time, not many showers for east anglia and south east england and it should brighten up. high temperature around 18 or 19 which should not feel bad at all in the brighter moments. 0vernight, low pressure staying in charge with further showers moving slowly eastwards across the country. it stays quite cloudy, so not that cold with the temperature overnight between six and ten. for monday, low pressure starts to pull away and to norway. a trailing cold front bringing cooler conditions across scotland through the day. quite a lot of cloud around for monday were still some showers in the heavy showers across central and eastern areas of england with the risk of thunderstorms through the temperature about 14—18 but it will start to turn colder in scotland where through the afternoon the temperature in aberdeen will come down to around seven. quite chilly in northern areas. and with clear skies in place through monday night we see patches of frost developing in rural areas. tuesday looks like a better day weather wise in terms of dry weather and sunshine thanks to this ridge of high pressure building its way in. there could be a few showers across the northern isles but light and fleeting in the cloud will tend to thicken up across western counties of northern ireland later in the day but for most a decent day but it will be a little on the cool side across northern and eastern areas where the temperature will be around 10—12. wednesday the temperature comes up a little bit but more cloud around and that will be thick enough to bring a few patches of rain in the west. temperature about 14—15, coolest air in the east. live from london. this is bbc news. heavy fighting in khartoum — as the sudanese army tries to recapture areas held by the rival, rsf militia. warnings of disruption to emergency care as nurses in england prepare to strike later on sunday. with a just a week to go until the coronation, british subjects will be encouraged to swear allegiance to king charles. hello. the first consignment of medical aid has reached sudan since the war broke out there two weeks ago. the international committee of the red cross says a plane landed at port sudan with eight tonnes of relief supplies —