Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed, and his ministers held the world’s first official underwater cabinet meeting on Saturday October 17th, 2009 as part of an international movement to draw global attention to the pressing issue of climate change.
During the underwater cabinet meeting, ministers ratified a statement calling for rapid greenhouse gas reductions, designed to draw attention to their country’s plight as a nation already feeling the effects of climate change.
The cabinet ministers used hand signals and wrote on slates to communicate with each other. Their statement will be presented at the UN Climate Change Talks in Copenhagen this December.
"It makes complete sense that the largest campaign of global action on climate ever should start in the low-lying Maldives," said Bill McKibben, co-founder of the 350.org Campaign. "Of the 170 nations that will participate, none will be a victim of global warming quite as quickly or completely."
President Nasheed is a leading voice on the dangers of climate change, especially the dangers to the Maldives. The president recently remarked, “If we can’t save the Maldives today, we can’t save London, New York or Hong Kong tomorrow.”
See more images on Flickr.
Visit: http://www.350.org/maldives
Show/Hide comment form
