The Republic of Maldives is extremely vulnerable to longer term climate change risks and associated extreme disaster events now and in the short term future. This report presents the findings of a project aimed to ‘identify gaps and disincentives that exist in the laws, regulations, and policies which act as barriers to investing in climate change adaptation in the tourism sector of the Maldives’. This report draws on both primary and secondary research. An analysis of relevant literature and legal documents in the Maldives were undertaken. Further, 39 key tourism stakeholder interviews were conducted. Core findings include the identification of key climate change risks facing the Maldivian tourism industry and dependent communities; including beach erosion and inundation, risks facing coral reefs and marine life, and risks of extreme weather events. This study further revealed that while the government does not have a deliberate intervention mechanism to address climate change or any laws or regulation targeting climate change adaptation per se, existing regulations – specifically those involving environmental management – have the potential to facilitate climate change adaptation. Indeed, many areas that are relevant to climate change adaptation (e.g. waste and coastal management) are already subject to considerable amounts of legislation. Concurrently, a range of policy gaps, coordination gaps, and overlaps in the regulatory frameworks were identified that act as barriers to implementing or investing in climate change adaptation. Findings indicate that the systemic shortcomings and the long process involved in getting legislation through the Parliament to enact important legislation addressing mean that climate change adaptation has largely failed to date. In addition, both in the policy and interview analysis, issues around monitoring and enforcement of existing laws, and regulations were identified as compromising the adaptive capacity of the tourism industry and the tourism dependent communities. The scattered geography of the Maldives in combination with limited (human and financial) resources, were further identified as major contributing factors to weak monitoring of compliance with existing laws. Moreover, the discretionary nature and the vague definitions of key concepts in existing laws and regulations make stringent implementation and enforcement challenging. Based on the findings of this project, a number of recommendations have been proposed, including revising some existing laws and regulations. To have credible commitment to address climate adaptation, urgent priority needs to be given to develop a Climate Act, consolidating a legal framework specifically addressing climate change adaptation in the Maldives. It is further recommended to establish a Climate Change Futures Commission that can monitor climatic conditions in the country, consult with (and integrate) the relevant agencies and ministries, local communities, and provide advice on those aspects of existing or planned legislation and regulations that might impact climate change adaptation measures.