The most important feature of the plant world on the Maldive islands is the incredible lack of plant variety and the fragile balance caused by it. Of the about 600 kinds of plants that have been documented on the Maldives, maybe only 100 to 150 would survive without human support. The remaining 450 to 500 species have been imported in the course of the past centuries for cultural- and decorative purposes. They were cultivated and cared for so they would no longer be pushed aside by local species. Most common are coconut palms and screw pines. Both species of trees do well on the islands since they grow shallow roots. Deep reaching roots would reach saltwater quickly and would be destroyed. Banyan trees do well also since their shallow roots feed on host plants like the screw pines or bushes.

Most important for the creation and the preservation of an island though are the grasses growing in the shallow shore area, the so called "pioneer plants". They first take root on a sand bank and fortify the banks with their dense root system. Only after this has held up for a certain time and has stabilized, brush and hedges can establish themselves and fortify the ground even more. Over the course of a few thousand years they begin to create a thin layer of humus where sweet rainwater collects. Here, about 1 meter above the high water mark, a dense forest of screw pines, coconut trees, strangler figs grows. Almond trees and many other plants begin to grow. The more undisturbed the island remains, the easier and more dense the plants will grow in this favorable habitat and stabilize the area even more. This again protects the island from being eroded by strong storms and high tides. As soon as one group of plants is weakened, it's neighbors are weakened too: When for instance grass, other plants or even just fallen leaves are removed from the shore of a resort island, even small tides will begin to wash out sand and earth from between the roots of coconut palms. These start to lean over and finally fall into the ocean.

In this way the tourist's dream of a gleaming white beach becomes the cause of erosion and finally the destruction of the paradise. If you feel responsible and wish to leave your children a heritage of white (and green) unobstructed beaches, you should pick a resort island that protects it's shore lines, leaves the vegetation on the beaches untouched and builds it's bungalows at least 30 meters from the beach. Then of course your view of the blue ocean is "obstructed" by screw pines and coconut trees (actually made even more beautiful), on the other hand this island has the chance to still have a working ecological system 20 years from now, and will have been spared the fate of erosion and destruction.