Maldives leader urges end to climate blame game

By: Wasantha Ramanayake on December 4th, 2009

The threat to human lives as sea levels rise under the influence of climate change is also an issue of  the right to life, says the leader of one small developing naation.

President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives says:  “We have a fundamental right to life. If that is challenged, we have to make it a human rights issue, not just an environmental one.”

He was speaking to Nalaka Gunwardane, director of the newly released film ”Small Islands – Big Impact”,  in an interview which forms the basis of the film.

President Nasheed says in the interview that climate change is both a global human rights issue and a security threat to small, low-lying island nations like his.

Under some scientific scenarios, he said, small islands such as the Maldives could go under water in no time. “This is a very real threat to us,” he warned. “We will die if this goes on.”

Democracy and good governance were vital elements in humanity’s struggle against climate change, he said.

Traditional methods of adapting to climate change such as physical structures like  embankments and breakwaters would not be enough.

Climate-induced pressures are already affecting fisheries and tourism, the two most important sectors of the Maldivian economy, President Nasheed said. “Even now, some islanders have to move home from where they lived. There are serious coastal erosion problems. So that’s all very real, and it’s happening now.”

In a message to the Copenhagen climate summit he said that the damage had already been done, and “there is no point in pointing fingers.”

“Don’t be stupid. Going on and on about who did it is not going to save us,” he said. But he asked the developed countries for funds and technology to save poorer countries from disaster.

The film featured the fate of small island nations which are vulnerable to climate change. With an average ground level of 1.5 meters (5 feet) above sea level, the Maldives is the lowest country on the planet.

The film shows how the Arctic ice is melting and sea water is expanding as global temperatures increase, making sea levels rise. This is expected gradually to submerge the Maldives and other low-lying islands.

It shows how other effects of climate change such as coastal erosion, the intrusion of salt water into fresh water sources, and extreme weather events could make some islands uninhabitable.

Recently the Maldivian Cabinet met under water, giving what many believed to be a strong message to the developed countries of the impact of climate change on the small and most vulnerable island nations, which include Sri Lanka. The magazine Time named President Nasheed a Hero of the Environment for his climate advocacy.

In March 2009, President Nasheed announced that the Maldives would become the world’s first fully carbon-neutral nation within a decade. To do this, it would vigorously pursue renewable energy and green energy sources to replace its current fossil fuel dependence.

Small Islands – Big Impact was produced by TVE Asia Pacific in collaboration with the COM+ Alliance of Communicators for Sustainable Development.