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The purpose of this chapter is to address the issue of climate change and its effects on developing insular countries like the Maldives in order to identify adaptive mechanisms and new opportunities in the international context towards achieving sustainable development, taking into account its environmental and social incidences.

Firstly, the chapter introduces some generalities of the Republic of the Maldives and its current challenges. Next, there is a description of the economy of the islands: here the importance of its major source of income, the tourism industry, is highlighted. Then, vulnerabilities and adaptive mechanisms are explored for the particular case of tourism.

Maldivian current efforts in disaster risk management (DRM) mitigation, preparedness, response, and reconstruction stages, and the work between government, private organizations, and civil society, implemented since the 2004 tsunami; and as a response to climate change, are examples of how to apply collaborative approaches proposed by Sustainable Development Objectives, COP21 agreement, and Sendai Framework.

It is difficult to measure the consequences of sustainable development actions by the Maldivian government, especially in the international environment.

The study of the Maldivian DRM strategy in the context of climate change and the lessons from the Maldives’ tourism sector development under climate action serves as a model for other international business organizations which aim to reach sustainable development standards in the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

This chapter evaluated important opportunities for sustainable development agenda that can be learned from DRM measures in Maldives.

This chapter introduces the tourism–disaster–conflict nexus through a comprehensive review of the contemporary social science literature. After reviewing conceptual definitions of tourism, disaster and conflict, the chapter explores various axes that link through this nexus. The linkages between tourism and disaster include tourism as a trigger or amplifier of disasters, the impacts of disasters on the tourism industry, tourism as a driver of disaster recovery and disaster risk reduction strategies in the tourism sector. Linkages between tourism and conflict include the idea that tourism can be a force for peace and stability, the niche status of danger zone or dark heritage tourism, the concept of phoenix tourism in post-conflict destination rebranding, tourism and cultural conflicts, and tourism’s conflicts over land and resources. Linkages between disaster and conflict include disasters as triggers or intensifiers of civil conflict, disaster diplomacy and conflict resolution, disaster capitalism, and gender-based violence and intra-household conflict in the wake of disasters. These are some of the conversations that organise this volume, and this introductory chapter ends with a summary of the chapters that follow.