The Maldivian president and ministers held the world's first underwater cabinet meeting yesterday, in a symbolic cry for help as rising sea levels threaten the tropical archipelago's existence.
Aiming for another attention-grabbing event to bring the risks of climate change into relief before a landmark UN climate change meeting in December, President Mohamed Nasheed's cabinet headed to the bottom of a turquoise lagoon.
Clad in black diving suits and masks, Nasheed, 11 ministers, the vice-president and the cabinet secretary dived 3.8 metres to gather at tables under the crystalline waters that draw thousands of tourists to US$1,000-a-night luxury resorts.
As fish darted around a backdrop of white coral, Nasheed gestured with his hands to start the 30-minute meeting, state TV showed.
"We are trying to send our message to let the world know what is happening and what will happen to the Maldives if climate change isn't checked," a dripping Nasheed said as he re-emerged from the water.
The archipelago nation off the tip of India is among the most threatened by rising seas. If UN predictions are correct, most of the low-lying Maldives will be submerged by 2100.
Nasheed and the ministers used a white plastic slate and waterproof pencils to sign an "SOS" message from the Maldives during the 30-minute meeting. "We must unite in a world war effort to halt further temperature rises," the message said. "Climate change is happening, and it threatens the rights and security of everyone on earth."
World leaders will meet in Copenhagen to hammer out a successor agreement to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, and industrialised nations want all countries to impose sharp emissions cuts.
"We have to have a better deal," Nasheed said. "We should be able to come out with an amicable understanding that everyone survives. If Maldives can't be saved today, we do not feel that there is much of a chance for the rest of the world."
The developing world wants rich countries to shoulder most of the burden, on the grounds they contributed most to the problem.
Nasheed and the cabinet trained for two weeks and were assisted by professional divers to pull off his latest eye-catching move related to climate change. Barely a month after entering office last year, he declared he would establish a sovereign fund to relocate his country's 350,000 people if sea levels rise, but he later admitted it was not feasible given the state of the Maldivian economy.
He has vowed to make the Maldives carbon-neutral within a decade by switching to renewable energy and offsetting carbon emissions caused by tourists flying in.
SCMP. Oct 18, 2009.
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4 comments:
The sea level rises up is a very serious warning. If we don't care about it, bad results would come.
It seems that Maldivian noticed the problems, but they could not stop the climate change by their own. The world should do somethings to help them. It should be the most possible way to save the world.
i never thought of human can have a meeting under the sea! but after reading the heading, the first thing that come to my mind is that, diving may not be a suitable way for warning the world because the action itself is not environmentally friendly. global warming really affects our world, not just the heat producted, but even like this kind of issue, destorying a country. i think the action of warning the world is a good thing, but having such a meeting isnt a good way to tell people we are in danger
This news i had saw on tv ,what i said before ,some place in the world will disappear if we keep on having large pollution everyday .
This news are not new at all ,because this message had already show in yahoo news about 1month ago ,just now the Maldivian president start tell others about this information in more detail way .
In fact ,i think that the Maldivian president can't do anything on this problem ,because this problem are need to solve by us .What Maldivian can do is that ,they can try their best to tell people how serious and emergent about their place .
Finally , if we do not concern about this case and keep on destory our enviroment ,may be "The day after tomorrow" will come ture .
It's a pity if we lose such a wonderful place as Maldives. More significantly, the inevitability of its disappearance, to a certain extent, signifies the grey future of mankind as a whole. We should really think about what we are doing to our precious environment.
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