this is hulhumale, built to cope with an ever—growing population just 15 years ago.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 guesthouses. wow, look at this! you can clearly see that the beach is eroded. the beach shouldn't fall off like that. and apparen