Low-lying states gather to debate rising sea levels

Mel Gunasekera, Yahoo News 13 Nov 07;

Dozens of small island nations opened talks in the Maldives on Tuesday to draft a strategy to combat rising water levels in the world's oceans, which are threatening their very existence.

Delegates from 26 low-lying nations at risk -- including Tonga, Micronesia and Kiribati -- are meeting to craft a proposal ahead of global climate change talks on the Indonesian resort island of Bali in December.

"Time is running out for us to ensure the survival of our future generation," Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom said in a speech to open the two-day meeting.

The low-lying nations fear not enough is being done to cut the greenhouse gases that are said to cause global warming, which experts warn could melt glaciers and polar ice caps, leading to a sharp increase in sea levels before the end of the century.

A United Nations climate panel recently forecast that world sea levels are likely to rise up to 59 centimetres (23 inches) by 2100.

With millions of lives at stake, Gayoom warned that climate change was about much more than the environment, science or politics, telling delegates: "It is fundamentally an issue about people."

He said the tidal surges experienced on 80 of the Maldives' 200 inhabited islands earlier this year were "a grim reminder of the devastating tsunami of 2004 and a clear warning of future disasters."

"There is no greater problem in the world today than climate change," added Maldivian Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid.

"The problem is getting worse -- there seems to be a lack of political will by world leaders to address this issue."

The summit is expected to produce a declaration saying that climate change threatens the rights of individuals to live safe and sustainable lives.

Gayoom, who has ruled the Maldives since 1978, has warned that a one-metre rise in sea levels could prove the "death of a nation," making the inhabitants of his country's 1,192 coral islands the first environmental refugees.

Scientific opinion is divided on how soon that could happen, with estimates ranging from 30 to 100 years.

The Maldives, home to 330,000 Sunni Muslims, is a magnet for well-heeled tourists and celebrities attracted to the white sand palm-fringed beaches, where holiday bungalows are built on stilts over turquoise lagoons.

Tourism and fishing together account for two-thirds of the country's economy of just under a billion dollars, and have made it one of the richest in South Asia with a per capita annual income of 2,700 dollars.

Strengthening the sea defences around 50 of the inhabited islands in the Maldives will cost about 1.5 billion dollars, officials said.

The global climate change summit in Bali aims to secure international agreement to negotiate a new regime to combat climate change when the current phase of the Kyoto Protocol ends in 2012.

More than 100 ministers are expected to attend the Bali talks.

Climate Change Threatens Human Rights - Small Island States
Ajay Makan, PlanetArk 14 Nov 07;

MALE - Representatives of 26 of the world's small island states met in the Maldives capital Male on Tuesday to draft a resolution identifying climate change as a threat to human rights.


The Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), concerned about rising sea levels, wants to present the resolution at a UN climate change conference in Bali next month.

"It is time to put people back at the heart of climate change diplomacy," Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom told the conference.

Ministers and diplomats met at an exclusive Maldives resort, one of more than 80 that underpin the Indian Ocean state's US$1 billion economy but are directly threatened by rising sea levels.

Delegates are expected to agree a declaration that climate change threatens the fundamental right to a safe, secure and sustainable environment, forcing developed countries to view rising seas through the prism of human rights.

Gayoom, Asia's longest serving ruler after 30 years in power, has repeatedly raised the spectre of climate change on international platforms, warning the UN Security Council of the potential "death of a nation" in 1987.

The Maldives' 1,200 coral islands sit less than 2 metres (yards) above sea level and are threatened with inundation if sea levels rise 59 cm (23 inches) by 2100 as predicted by the UN climate panel.

It would cost an estimated US$1.5 billion to provide sea defences for the country's deluxe US$1,000-a-night resorts.

The conference brings together officials from countries including Singapore, Micronesia, Grenada and the Seychelles, as well as environmental lawyers.

Delegates are also expected to hammer out a portfolio of practical policies to counter climate change, with an emphasis on emissions reduction, rather than carbon trading.

(Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

See also Is climate change "human rights abuse"? on the reuters environment blog.