Maldivian Ministers Forced To Hold Climate Talks Underwater

Published October 06, 2009 @ 12:00PM PT

Ministers in the Maldives have been forced to hold a high-level cabinet meeting and press conference underwater. The Indian Ocean nation have been increasingly frustrated by the lack of international climate change action, so all but one of the Maldivian cabinet will take to the water to highlight a substantial problem: the Maldives may be wiped out entirely by rising sea-levels, since 80% of the archipelago is less than a meter above sea-level, terrible news considering a rise of at least two-meters is almost unstoppable.

The Maldivian ministers will sign a document underwater next week demanding a new agreement to replace Kyoto is created at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. The Maldives are serious about the threat; at the end of last year came the news that the nation was beginning to divert a portion of the country's tourist revenue to buy a new homeland, as insurance against the 300,000 population becoming climate change refugees.

I suggest Nepal, it's land locked, and its capital is a comforting 1336 meters above sea-level. (EDIT: This is not a serious suggestion. I am no expert in post-climate change disaster relocation).

Photo credit: ScubaBen

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Comments (13)

Suggesting Nepal shows a profound level of ignorance and insensitivity.

Besides the fact that Nepal is Buddist (where he was born) and Hindu (the faith he rejected) it has problems already with absorbing Tibetan refugees. Also, Global Warming is already creating disasters there from the melting glaciers creating lakes that flood valleys when the ice wall break.

Why would you want to impose a population of very conservative muslims on that poor country.

A very dumb idea!

Posted by mel zimmer on 10/11/2009 @ 05:46AM PT
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Nepal was not a serious suggestion, I have edited the post for clafication.

Posted by mike @change.org on 10/11/2009 @ 04:18PM PT
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If, indeed, the ocean was rising, this would be evident world-wide. It is not, to the extent that it shows on Maldives.

Rational thought would conclude that volcanic activity under the earth's crust is the cause of the sinking.

Just because one of my cornflakes sinks into my milk, it does not indicate that there is more milk in the bowl. I don't mean to sound callous, but if we concentrate on the wrong problem we will only delay the proper solution.

Posted by Chuck Reynolds on 10/12/2009 @ 03:07PM PT
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Go tell it to the Samoans, who have had to move their homes away from the ocean for the first time ever.

'Course, they might just break you face.

Posted by mel zimmer on 10/12/2009 @ 03:18PM PT
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Naw. They'd loose their kahunas in the process.

How high have the oceans risen, exactly, in Maldives, Samoa, San Francisco, and Iceland? Is it all the same?

Posted by Chuck Reynolds on 10/12/2009 @ 04:14PM PT
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then, by those standards, it would be important for the glaciers to dissappear at the same rates?

Posted by mel zimmer on 10/12/2009 @ 09:11PM PT
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All of the locations I mentioned are at the shore of one continuous body of water. If the oceans are rising due to the addition of more water, then it stands to reason that each location must experience the same rise.

Glaciers are local.

We must rationally assess the situation in order to come to the proper conclusion. There are many that come to a conclusion and then manipulate the data to match that conclusion. This method of thought is improper.

Posted by Chuck Reynolds on 10/13/2009 @ 01:16PM PT
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Should not all the tide tables be the same world wide?

Posted by mel zimmer on 10/13/2009 @ 01:51PM PT
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That's a good question. I can't even begin to go into the math of fluid dynamics, and, based upon what I have seen from many oceanographers and climatologists, they can't do much better.

The ocean water has to flow from one point to another in order for a short term change, such as the location of the sun and moon. Weather patterns will also cause short term changes.

What we are dealing with is a long term change in either the total volume of ocean water, which would show itself globally, or local changes in the surface height of this balloon that we call the earth's crust.

I am open to any other theories. I simply lean toward the one that has the most logical explanation.

Posted by Chuck Reynolds on 10/14/2009 @ 01:21PM PT
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We do know however that in the Antartic and Artic the ice is disappearing and large segments are falling into the ocean.

We also know that this makes the oceans rise worldwide, making places like Samoa, Holland, New York and (here) New Orleans.

The Samoan culture has been there for over 1500 years, replacing the Menehune before them. Now for the first time in history they have had to move away from the encroachment of the ocean. those islands aren't sinking, the water is rising.

I'm in New Orleans where our wetlands are disappearing due to the hand of man (mostly oilmen and The Corpse of Engineers). But the Samoans problems are due to the rise of the ocean.

It is a very complex issue. I tend to lean toward better safe than sorry, and most of the worlds scientists think Global Warming is a threat to all mankind.

Posted by mel zimmer on 10/14/2009 @ 02:45PM PT
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I'm not a believer in anthropogenic causes of climate change, with the exception of nuclear winter, should it ever happen.

When you have a few minutes, google "unstoppable solar cycles" and catch a youtube video to get an alternative prospective.

Regardless of what postulate makes more sense, it is still good food for thought.

Posted by Chuck Reynolds on 10/15/2009 @ 02:00PM PT
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I already know about that farce.

Speaking of Greenland, the march of glaciers there has increased three times faster in the past ten years. the lake pooling is going to increase that geometrically.

When all of Greenlands glaciers melt and fall into the sea it is predicted that oceans will rise by 23 feet worldwide.

So are you a part of the Idea Channel?

Posted by mel zimmer on 10/15/2009 @ 03:01PM PT
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Actually, no. Thanks for pointing me its way, though.

I think that a lot of people view the world as naturally stable, yet climate change is well documented in human history, as plate tectonics are in the geological record.

I'm old enough to remember when the big environmental concern was a new ice age. But, the idea of anthropogenic global warming logically dictates that a world government and high taxation of industrialized societies is needed. There is a lot of money and power behind the climate change movement, and the powerful have a lot to gain if they get their way.

Posted by Chuck Reynolds on 10/15/2009 @ 07:14PM PT
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