+ 19.10.2009 + To raise awareness of the looming fate of the Maldives and to push for strongerclimate resolutions, President Nasheed will hold a Cabinet meeting underwater.

The president of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, and his ministers will be holding an official cabinet meeting in an unusual location – underwater. On Saturday, 17 October, the Maldives government will hold the first ever official meeting underwater as part of an international movement organized by 350.org to draw global attention to the pressing issue of climate change.

To call attention to their country’s plight as a nation already feeling the effects of climate change, ministers will ratify a statement calling for rapid greenhouse gas reductions to 350 parts per million CO2 – they will communicate by the use of hand signals and write on slates. The 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."

The 350.org campaign is organizing a global day of environmental action on 24 October. In the Maldives, 350 divers will stage a 24-hour, underwater climate protest in the Male’ lagoon and local Maldivian NGOs will send 350 ‘Postcards from the Frontline’ to world leaders. Elsewhere, events include Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian activists gathering on the shores of the Red Sea where they will form giant human 3’s and 5’s and 0’s; thousands of students across 300 universities in China coordinating mass actions- such as “scuba marchers” of students dressed in snorkels and flippers parading in major shopping malls; and a demonstration and countdown of images streaming in from over 3,000 events taking place over the world on the screens in New York City’s Time Square.

At the conclusion of the underwater cabinet meeting on 17 October, President Nasheed will hold a press conference, where he will call for carbon dioxide reductions commensurate with the 350 target.

Ministers have been taking scuba diving lessons with help from Divers Association Maldives (DAM) and will be awarded a PADI Discover Scuba certificates at the end of their sessions. President Nasheed is already a PADI Advanced Open Water diver. 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.”

The event was organized by the Divers Association of Maldives and in association with Allied Insurance Company, the diving gear and the diving suits were auctioned off the highest bidder on the day of the event.

350 | 2009