This morning the prime ministers of the pacific islands met in Berlin their role in the COP15 climate conference. Even though they hold only 0.6 percent of the total CO2 output, the impacts on climate change for small island countries will be hazardous. As water level rises, coasts will wander into the country shrinking their total land surface or even flooding them completely.
Their only chance lies in raising awareness. The prime minister of the Maldives Nasheed did so in holding a cabinet meeting 6 meters beneath the surface of the water.
When speaking to the people climate summit, Klimaforum, yesterday morning he earned strong support from green activists. He said in an interview to the ARD: “I can move, but the animals, the culture, my home cant”. Some hours later he spoke to officials at the COP15 conference as well telling them to stop talking and finally start negotiating a binding specific deal, told me David Sheppard, Director of the SPREP, an intergovernmental environment organization of the Pacific islands countries and territories.
It’s not only the Maldives, but there are many other island cultures in the Pacific Ocean as well. Even though their economical impact might be relatively small, their credibility in changing back towards a sustainable development is high up because their own homes are threatened. If no action will be taken, we soon loose these island paradises. They will eventually sink like Vineta.
But will those Stars from small countries like Tuvalu or Samoa be able to convince 192 countries in signing a binding treaty? Noone really beliefs it anymore. Experts rather expect a unspecific declaration in Copenhagen. The real deal however is expected to be signed in Mexico in December 2010.
links:
- Cabinet submarine meeting: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/07/maldives-underwater-cabinet-meeting
- SPREP: http://sprep.org/
