Can Maldives persuade India to alter its climate change position?

With climate change talks in Delhi this week, eyes are now on Asia’s third largest economy in the hope that it might, at the very least, bend its position ahead of Copenhagen.

Previously seen as an obstacle to negotiations, India has now edged the world closer to a chance at success by appearing open to new options. Until now, they had remained glued to the principles of the Kyoto protocol, which only limits carbon emissions in developed countries.

As the guest of honour, Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed, a new voice on climate change who has been at the centre of attention-grabbing headlines since he was elected last year, will surely be doing his best to convince India of more action.

Nasheed and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are due to meet to discuss a “common position” on the issue. This should be read as: Maldives will be asking its bigger neighbour to re-think its stance. A common position will not be easy; currently, the Maldives, due to be one of the worst-hit by rising sea levels, and India have very little common ground here.

Their rhetoric so far has been almost diametrically opposed. The Maldives has said it is not a blame game and that poorer countries should not be telling the more advanced industrial countries not to have developed. On the other side of the fence, India has pointed its fingers at richer countries, telling them that they should be the ones to shoulder the responsibility.

The Maldives has said all countries should invest in renewable energies and make carbon cuts. The archipelego itself is trying to create an example; it aims to be carbon neutral by 2020. India, although it has made some renewable energy pledges, has said the bulk of this responsibility should be on the wealthiest countries, while developing countries should be free to emit all they want.

Since Nasheed came into power last year, relations with India have strengthened. India has always been an important ally to the tiny island nation; in 1988, the Indian navy rescued the country from a coup.

Now, perhaps with the growing influence of China in nearby countries like Sri Lanka, India is taking more of an interest in Maldives. It has increased investment links and has made new agreements on security.

With this renewed friendship, maybe the perfect figure to influence the Asian giant is Nasheed. Despite being the new kid on the block in climate change talks, the 42-year old leader is gaining international reputation among activists and scientists. His country might not have much clout in the usual power circles, but he is certainly gaining some respect in the climate change field.

And as someone whose tiny nation is least responsible but has the most to lose, maybe he has a better leg to stand on than other statesmen who have gone before him and failed. If India is bending, perhaps Nasheed can be the tipping point.

Maldives’ representation is a reminder to Singh that the stakes are high. With 80 per cent of islands less than one metre above sea level, the tiny archipelago stands to lose everything if predictions are correct.
Nasheed considers a failure at Copenhagen as a death knell for his tropical Muslim nation.

If the worst happens, it may well be India that may have to accommodate the resulting environmental refugees.

Whether or not Nasheed can succeed is another question. But with Copenhagen in six weeks, the hourglass is running out of sand.

Maldives plans climate meet for threatened nations

MALE, Maldives — The Maldives will convene a summit next month of countries suffering some of the worst impacts of climate change ahead of a global conference on the issue in Copenhagen, government officials said.

The low-lying island nation has become a leading voice on the issue of global warming, even staging an underwater Cabinet meeting this month to express concerns about rising sea levels.

Government officials said Tuesday that the two-day conference starting Nov. 9 is meant to forge a common position for some of the world’s most vulnerable countries ahead of global talks in Copenhagen in December.

Those talks aim to replace the Kyoto Protocol, the first global agreement requiring modest reductions by industrialized countries in emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases widely believed responsible for changing the earth’s climate.

Wealthy nations want broad emissions cuts from all countries, while poorer ones say industrialized countries should carry most of the burden.

“We have chosen island states and countries suffering from deforestation, glacial melting and desertification,” said Ahmed Naseem, the Maldives state minister for foreign affairs.

The Maldives conference is expected to include Bangladesh, Barbados, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guyana, Kenya, Kiribati, Nepal, Philippines, Rwanda, Tuvalu and Vietnam.

Maldivian acquitted of murdering Bangladeshi

According to this article in Haveeru, a Maldivian in Haa Dhaal atoll was acquitted of murdering a Bangladeshi man.

He was accused of attacking the Bangladeshi on the head with a plank of wood on 30 November 2008 after an argument earlier in the day. The victim then died later due to head injuries.

But the criminal court found him not guilty because there was not enough evidence. Two people had testified at the trial.

Maldives is home to a huge number of Bangladeshi migrant workers who often face abuse and prejudice. A large number come across to work in the tourism industry but, once here, fail to receive their salary on time and have few rights.

There are often cases of physical abuse like this case last year.

In 2007, the Bangladesh High Commission said it would consider removing their citizens from the Maldives if their rights were not met.

Maldives Leader In Climate Change Stunt

By Olivia Lang
BBC News

With fish darting amongst them in a blue lagoon, the Maldivian president and his top team have staged an elaborate stunt to publicise climate change.

Billed as the world’s first underwater cabinet meeting, President Mohamed Nasheed and 11 ministers, decked in scuba gear, held a meeting 4m (13ft) underwater.

While officials said the event itself was light-hearted, the idea is to focus on the plight of the Maldives, where rising sea levels threaten to make the nation uninhabitable by the end of the century.

Mr Nasheed, the country’s first democratically elected president, has become an important global voice for climate change since he won in polls last October.

“We have to get the message across through a course of action which resonates with ordinary people,” the president said, as the boat neared our destination.

“What we are trying to tell the people is that we hope there is a better deal at Copenhagen.”

The presidential speedboat took 20 minutes to arrive in the turquoise lagoon off Girifushi, in North Male atoll.

The cabinet then zipped themselves into diving suits and donned goggles and tanks of compressed air before jumping in the water.

Major Ahmed Ghiyaz, the co-ordinator from the Maldivian National Defence Force (MNDF), said all measures had been taken to protect the president, which included checking the coral for dangerous creatures.

“I am 99.9% sure there will be no harmful creatures,” he told the BBC before the dive.

“I’m sure there won’t be any sharks. The nastiest thing would be a moray eel, but we have checked the reef”.

A horseshoe-shaped table was set up around a dark green coral reef with blue tips and home to an array of sea creatures in one of the world’s most famed diving spots.

The president and his team took their seats at 1000 at the bottom of the lagoon, sitting at desks with name tags while colourful parrot fish and black and white damsel fish darted around them.

Using hand signals to gesture that they were OK, ministers then passed round an “SOS” to be signed – an agreement calling for carbon emission cuts.

“We must unite in a global effort to halt further temperature rises,” the message reads.

Meanwhile, a handful of journalists kitted out in snorkel gear and swimming around on the surface tried to get a glimpse of the action below.

Emerging out of the water, a dripping President Nasheed removed his mask to answer questions from reporters and photographers crowded around on the shore.

“We are trying to send a message to the world about what is happening and what would happen to the Maldives if climate change isn’t checked,” he said, bobbing around in the water with his team of ministers.

“If the Maldives is not saved, today we do not feel there is much chance for the rest of the world.”

Curry and coconuts

After the dive, the president told the BBC he had seen a stingray swim nearby during the meeting.

“There was a sergeant fish that was particularly interested in what was going on,” he said during a typically Maldivian lunch of fish curry and coconut juice.

“I’ve never been worried about reef sharks and I’ve been diving for a long time,” the 42-year-old added.

He says other Maldivians had heard about the event and wanted to get involved in some way.

On the island of Kuda Huvadhoo, some islanders reportedly created a sealed box and put their TV in it so they could watch the footage of the meeting underwater.

“They told me, ‘if the president is under water, then they want to be too’,” Mr Nasheed said.

But he was keen to push the need for action.

The 1192-island chain is at severe threat from rising sea levels, with 80% of its islands less than a metre above sea level.

“What do we hope to achieve? We hope not to die. I hope I can live in the Maldives and raise my grandchildren here,” says Mr Nasheed.

Maldives govt dives for climate change

Olivia Lang (AP)

GIRIFUSHI, Maldives — Members of the Maldives’ Cabinet donned scuba gear and used hand signals Saturday at an underwater meeting staged to highlight the threat of global warming to the lowest-lying nation on earth.

President Mohammed Nasheed and 13 other government officials submerged and took their seats at a table on the sea floor — 20 feet (6 meters) below the surface of a lagoon off Girifushi, an island usually used for military training.

With a backdrop of coral, the meeting was a bid to draw attention to fears that rising sea levels caused by the melting of polar ice caps could swamp this Indian Ocean archipelago within a century. Its islands average 7 feet (2.1 meters) above sea level.

“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,” Nasheed said.

As bubbles floated up from their face masks, the president, vice president, Cabinet secretary and 11 ministers signed a document calling on all countries to cut their carbon dioxide emissions.

The issue has taken on urgency ahead of a major U.N. climate change conference scheduled for December in Copenhagen. At that meeting countries will negotiate a successor to the Kyoto Protocol with aims to cut the emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide that scientists blame for causing global warming by trapping heat in the atmosphere.

Wealthy nations want broad emissions cuts from all countries, while poorer ones say industrialized countries should carry most of the burden.

Dozens of Maldives soldiers guarded the event Saturday, but the only intruders were groupers and other fish.

Nasheed had already announced plans for a fund to buy a new homeland for his people if the 1,192 low-lying coral islands are submerged. He has promised to make the Maldives, with a population of 350,000, the world’s first carbon-neutral nation within a decade.

“We have to get the message across by being more imaginative, more creative and so this is what we are doing,” he said in an interview on a boat en route to the dive site.

Nasheed, who has emerged as a key, and colorful, voice on climate change, is a certified diver, but the others had to take diving lessons in recent weeks.

Three ministers missed the underwater meeting because two were not given medical permission and another was abroad.

Congratulate China. Arrest Tibetans.

China today celebrates 60 years of communist rule since the creation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. For the party’s supporters, it is a day of ostentatious shows and parades. In Nepal, however, it is a day of Tibetan protests and arrests.

For Tibetans, there is little to celebrate. The early years of Chairman Mao’s rule in China marked a historic tragedy for the proudly spiritual, hillside people of Tibet. Since China invaded the territory in 1950, claiming it was liberating it from foreign imperialists, over one million Tibetans have been killed.

Tibetan protests are regular and their arrests inevitable. Nepal has faced increasing pressure from China to crackdown on the demonstrations and appear to be responding accordingly.

Thousands have been arrested since last year. As a small neighbour, Nepal pledges support to China’s “one-china” policy and its official line is upheld.

The result today was 38 Tibetans being arrested in protests, according to AFP news agency. Most protesters are dragged away by police but released within hours or days.

Earlier this month, foreign minister Sujata Koirala visited China and reiterated that no anti-China activities will take place on Nepalese soil.

Meanwhile, the Maoist party pass on their message of congratulations to the Chinese, who remain an important friend.

Nepal is home to around 20,000 exiled Tibetans.