In one of the more interesting examples of a government taking a hands on approach towards climate change, the President of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, has announced that this cabinet will very practically show the world how threatening rising sea levels are to his nation, by taking the whole of his cabinet under water in scuba gear, for a cabinet meeting.
The Maldives certainly is one of the countries most radically under threat from climate change. Nasheed argues that rising sea levels could see the existence of his country under a very serious and very real threat; if rising sea levels aren’t curbed, he argues, then the nation itself might be submerged.
Hence the under water cabinet meeting.The purpose of the meeting has also been well publicised: to ratify the government’s aim to push all nations a the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit to a substantial carbon emissions cut. A spokesperson said of the cabinet meeting that,
“The cabinet will don wet suits and scuba equipment and dive to a depth of six metres, where a special meeting of the cabinet will be convened…They will then ratify a pledge calling on other nations to slash greenhouse gas emissions ahead of the Copenhagen meeting“.
No doubt the publicity stunt will attract some thoughtful onlookers, as members of the cabinet are expected to communicate via hand signals and whiteboards. Whether the message will have much impact at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, though, remains to be seen.Certainly, Nasheed will hope that it is the first and only time his government will have to resort to zany stunts in order to grab the attention of the world’s developed countries and major powers.
No doubt, too, they will hope that any time spent underwater will not be as a catastrophic necessity, and simply always be as a result of choice.
That said, it will be interesting to see if a team of professionally trained scuba-diving politicians might somehow, in some way, come in handy. Let’s all hope that there’s a time when that can be called upon in earnest, and that its for another humorous stunt.
Source: The Independent
