What happens to a country when its territory is swallowed by the sea?

We can say that the visitors to luxury hotels in the Maldives (each contributing a lot to global heating for one person) are consuming those islands, using them up from under the inhabitants.

The people of the Maldive Islands knew what to do to save their islands, and they did it: they elected a president who began campaigning to curb global heating. He was removed then imprisoned by a military coup that I suspect has something to do with fossil fuel interests.

In the light of what Australia and Europe are doing to refugees today, I think that they will tell the inhabitants of island nations to sit down and drown. The dictator of the Maldives must expect to buy safety for his family when the rest of the population is drowned.

We had better stop doing the things that make so many people flee their homes.