Leads fight against global warming :

Maldives wants action on climate change

MALDIVES: White sand and crystal clear water that laps around the Maldives draw thousands to the islands every year, but in the waves lie the seeds of the country’s possible destruction.

The archipelago is on the frontline of climate change in a way that few other countries can claim and its unfortunate position has made it a vocal campaigner and, it hopes, a role-model in the battle against global warming.

In 2007, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that a rise in sea levels of 18 to 59 centimetres (7.2 to 23.2 inches) by 2100 would be enough to make the Maldives virtually uninhabitable.

Over 80 percent of the country’s land, composed of coral islands scattered some 850 kilometres (550 miles) across the equator, is less than one metre (3.3 feet) above mean sea level.

Ahead of a climate change summit in Copenhagen in December, where the world’s powers hope to agree a new pact to cut greenhouse gas emissions, the country is preparing to make a loud case for hasty action.

“The best we can do is to tell the world that what is happening to us can happen to you tomorrow,” says Maldives Environment Minister Mohamed Aslam. “The big countries must see their future reflected through us.”

The government of the nation of 1,192 low-lying coral islets has even been thinking aloud about buying a “homeland” in Australia or in neighbouring India or Sri Lanka for its 330,000-strong population.

Mohamed Nasheed, a young, former journalist elected as president last year, hopes this will not be necessary.

“Our core point is that there is hope. We can reverse the situation. I think it is very important for people to realise that we are not fighting a losing battle,” he told reporters at his sea-front office in the capital Male, in an interview earlier this month.

Seeking to set an example, Nasheed has set goals to turn the Maldives into the first nation to be carbon neutral by 2020.

The 200 inhabited islands in the Maldives want to switch over to solar and wind-driven generators and authorities hope to drastically reduce the number of motorcycles that choke Male’s narrow streets.

While details of the plan remain vague, officials are keen to showcase their new eco credentials.

Nasheed says he wants luxury tourist resorts to take the lead and he is offering tax concessions for renewable energy schemes. MALE, Friday, AFP