| Maldives holds world's first underwater Cabinet meeting |
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Written by Administrator
Saturday, 17 October 2009 17:17 |
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 President Mohamed Nasheed, Vice President Dr Mohamed Waheed and 11 cabinet ministers donned scuba gear and submerged 4 meters below the surface of sea to hold the world's first underwater cabinet meeting, in a bid to push for a stronger climate change agreement in the upcoming climate summit in Copenhagen.
“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” said President Nasheed, speaking to the press as soon as he resurfaced from underwater.
“What we are trying to make people realize is that the Maldives is a frontline state. This is not merely an issue for the Maldives but for the world. If we can't save the Maldives today, you can't save the rest of the world tomorrow”, said President Nasheed further.
During the 30-minute meeting held in the turquoise lagoon off Girifushi Island, with a backdrop of corals, the President, the Vice President and eleven other Cabinet ministers signed a resolution calling for global cuts in carbon emissions.
President Nasheed and the ministers used a water proof pencils to sign the declaration, 'SOS from the frontline', printed on a white plastic slate, to be presented before the landmark UN climate summit in Copenhagen in December.
“Climate change is happening and it threatens the rights and security of everyone on Earth” the SOS message said. The SOS, endorsed by the cabinet, further called for people to “unite in global effort to halt further temperature rises, by slashing carbon dioxide emissions to a safe level of 350 parts per million”.
The Maldives is calling for an agreement at Copenhagen that will help reduce carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere to no more than 350 part per million. This would require a 40 per cent global reduction in green house gas emissions by 2020 from 1990 levels.
When asked what would happen if Copenhagen fails, the President said that “we are all going to die”. However, he said the Maldives would be the first country to adopt any amicable climate agreement that comes through Copenhagen.
In March this year President Nasheed announced that the Maldives would be the first country in the Maldives to go carbon neutral, and the Maldives would achieve the target by 2020.
President Nasheed, who is an influential voice on climate change, is a certified open water diver, while other ministers took diving lessons recent weeks.
After the dive, signed wet suits of the President and the ministers will be auctioned on www.protectmaldives.com.mv to raise funds for coral reef protection in the Maldives . |
| Last Updated ( Saturday, 24 October 2009 21:10 ) |
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| President and the Ministers to hold the world’s first underwater Cabinet meeting |
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Written by Administrator
Friday, 16 October 2009 10:38 |
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 The President of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, and his ministers will be holding the world’s first underwater cabinet meeting on Saturday 17 October, to draw global attention to the pressing issue of climate change.
Famed for its first-rate diving, the Maldives stands at the frontline of the climate change battle. To call attention to their country’s plight, ministers will use hand signals and slates to communicate to ratify a statement calling for rapid greenhouse gas reductions. The statement will be presented at the landmark UN climate change talks in Copenhagen this December. Ministers have been taking scuba diving lessons with help from Divers Association Maldives (DAM) and will be awarded a PADI Discover Scuba certificates at the end of their sessions. President Nasheed is already a PADI Advanced Open Water diver.
“The ministers are fairly comfortable in the water particularly given that they’ve just started diving,” said Zoona Naseem, president of DAM and a PADI staff instructor. “None of ministers have ever been diving before except the defense minister and all of them are very enthusiastic." Three of the ministers have expressed an interest to train for their PADI Open Water diver certificates.
The underwater meeting is part of a wider campaign by international environmental NGO 350.org.
350.org is calling on political leaders to commit to deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions at Copenhagen. The world’s top climatologists, such as James Hansen of the NASA/Goddard Institute, caution that atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide must return to the safe threshold of 350 parts per million if catastrophic global warming is to be avoided. Levels currently stand at 385ppm.
The 350.org campaign will cumulate in a global day of environmental action on 24 October. In the Maldives, 350 divers will stage a 24-hour, underwater climate protest in the Male’ lagoon. Local Maldivian NGOs will send 350 ‘Postcards from the Frontline’ to world leaders and an environmental activist will sail from Male’ to the airport island in a raft made from 350 empty plastic bottles.
After the underwater cabinet meeting on 17 October, President Nasheed will hold a press conference, where he will call for carbon dioxide reductions commensurate with the 350 target.
President Nasheed has often warned of the dangers climate change poses to the Maldives – a country so beautiful it has reached the final of the ‘New 7 Wonders of Nature’ competition.
As the President recently remarked: “If we can’t save the Maldives today, we can’t save London, New York or Hong Kong tomorrow.” www.presidencymaldives.gov.mv |
| Last Updated ( Friday, 16 October 2009 11:13 ) |
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