MALE, REPUBLIC OF MALDIVES - I probably won’t get to heaven, but I’ve been to the Maldives — close enough.

This remarkable necklace of 1,190 coral reef islands known as the “Pearl of the Indian Ocean” is a wonderful escape from every day life — a sun-kissed treasure featuring touquoise fringed islands, warm tropical breezes, secluded resorts and waters teeming with exotic sea life. A virtual heaven on earth. But’s it’s going through hell right now.

That’s because this paradise is sinking into the Indian Ocean.

Climate change is having a devastating effect on the Maldives, the first nation to sign the Kyoto Protocol — and for good reason. Scientists say this nation is sinking at a rate of 0.9cm a year and that within 100 years almost 80 per cent of the islands, which sit just one metre above sea level - making it the lowest country on earth - will be under water.

The situation is so critical that 60 per cent of the residents on densely-populated Kandholhudhoo Island in the northern region of the Maldives have agreed to relocate over the next 15 years. And in the capital Male, a three-metre-high retaining wall has been built to try and hold back the sea.

Scary stuff but, since it will take a century for this catastrophe to fully played out, you still have plenty of time to get here and experience this country’s Garden of Eden good looks.

Only 300 of the 1,192 islands here are occupied and 100 of those are reserved for high-end international resorts. The rest are inhabited by the less than 300,000 Maldivians who make their living off the sea and tourism. A third of the country’s population, 103,693, make Malé their home.

Because of its strategic Indian Ocean location, the Maldives has always been a favoured stopover for foreigners — most of them in the early days were spice traders heading back to Portugal, Holland, France and Britain.

Some of the Europeans liked it so much here they decided to occupy this ocean oasis from time to time — the Maldives actually won its total independence from Britain in 1965.

Tourism is the largest industry in the Maldives, accounting for 28 per cent of the country’s GDP. Over 90 per cent of the government’s revenues come from import duties and tourism-related taxes.

Being a strict Muslim nation, the Maldives imposes strict punishment on those who break the law, especially drug offenders.

There are over 90 major international resort companies in the Maldives, including Canada’s Four Seasons Resorts, which operates two five-star properties here — one on Kuda Huraa Island, which opened in 1997, and another, much larger resort on Landaa Giraavaru, which opened in 2006.

It would be a great tragedy for this nation to simply sink into oblivion. But it’s fate is now in nature’s, and heaven’s, hands.