MALDIVES: Maldives leader says it would be "extremely silly" if world leaders don't reach agreement on climate change at Copenhagen

Record ID: 259908

  • Title: MALDIVES: Maldives leader says it would be "extremely silly" if world leaders don't reach agreement on climate change at Copenhagen
  • Date: 12th September 2009
  • Summary: MALE, MALDIVES (RECENT - SEPTEMBER 7, 2009) ( REUTERS) MALE EXTERIOR OF PRESIDENT'S OFFICE MALDIVES PRESIDENT MOHAMMED NASHEED SEATED AND TALKING TO JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) MALDIVES PRESIDENT MOHAMMED NASHEED SAYING: "What will happen to other low lying islands, you can have a snapshot of it now from the Maldives here. In a sense if the Maldives falls, the d
  • Embargoed: 27th September 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Maldives
  • Country: Maldives
  • Topics: International Relations,Environment / Natural World
  • Reuters ID: LVA8UV5Q393AVAVI3H5APZ4OJMHR
  • Story Text: Maldivian President Mohammed Rashid calls on world leaders to reach an agreement to counter climate change in the Copenhagen meeting, saying the problem in the Maldives is a snapshot of what will happen in low lying areas in the world.
    For most, the Maldives is just a luxury tourist destination with south Asia's highest GDP per-capita.
    But for Maldivians, climate change has become a do or die battle with most of its inhabited islands threatened by rising sea levels.
    The island of Thulhadhoo is one of the worst affected in the Maldivian archipelago's 50 inhabited islands out of 1,196 islands. Officials say much of the island's coast line has eroded, where about 200 metres of reclaimed coastline has disappeared during the past five to eight years, because it wasn't properly protected.
    Most of the island's population of 2790 families make a living out of fishing and feel that unless something is done soon, they will have to relocate. The people are looking to the government to build sea walls to prevent sea erosion.
    Analysts say building revetments to protect nearly 50 islands from sea erosion is impossible for the 800 million dollar economy, which faces a budget deficit of 34 percent of GDP.
    President Mohammed Nasheed, who in March outlined ambitious plans to make the Maldives the world's first carbon-neutral nation within a decade, said their biggest challenge is to change the mindsets of people.
    Facing the possibility of his country disappearing beneath the sea, Maldivian President Mohammed Nasheed, is one of the most outspoken advocates of taking immediate action to negate climate change.
    "What will happen to other low lying islands, you can have a snapshot of it now from the Maldives here. In a sense if the Maldives falls, the domino will fall. So, basically what I mean by it is in a national security threat or international security threat we feel that climate change issues are no longer simply just an environmental issue," said President Mohammed to a group of journalists at his office in Male.
    A drive to agree on a U.N. climate pact in the Copenhagen December summit risks failure unless world leaders revive bogged-down negotiations at a U.N. summit in New York on September 22, experts say.
    Recriminations between rich and poor nations about how to share curbs on greenhouse gas emissions, and scant aid from recession-hit rich nations, mean the world is far from a deal. A draft treaty is currently at an unmanageable 200 pages long.
    "If they cannot come up with an agreement from Copenhagen that would be the silliest, you know the most, it is beyond words what they are trying to do, the whole world sitting around there and not coming with an agreement would be extremely silly," added Mohammed.
    "For us now we would like a few adaptation programmes. But also we don't want temperatures to rise above two degrees, carbon content to be below 350. So in a sense we just want to live, please don't kill us."
    Famed mostly for high-end luxury resorts and white-sand atolls, the Maldives has made a name for itself as an advocate for mitigating climate change -- because rising sea levels are forecast to submerge most of its islands by 2100. For the moment, locals are trying to protect the island's shores by putting up temporary barriers.
    "I am worried about having to leave here. This is the island where my ancestors lived. I don't want to leave this island," said Abdul Hameed, a 42-year-old fisherman.
    "The erosion has been going on for the past few years and it has gotten worse in the past couple of months," said the island's chief official, Mohamed Usman.
    Though tourism is the main source of income, many environmentalists fear tourism is affecting global warming in the way of long distance flights, damage to coral reefs and the use of air-conditioning units in most of the luxury resorts.
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