Speech by His Excellency President Mohamed Nasheed, at the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association s Conference on Climate Change Good morning Baroness D Souza, Honourable Members of Parliament, Ladies and Gentlemen; I am so delighted to be sitting next to her. Long time ago, when I was a prisoner, I did receive letters from her through the Amnesty International calling for my release. It is consistent efforts and focused work that actually gives us results. So I am so pleased to be here today. Friends and Colleagues; We, in front of us, have a very daunting task. Our world faces many challenges, most importantly in climate change. The Maldives like many other countries here is very vulnerable for climate change. We are just 1.5meteres above sea-level. Most of us agree that the science is now sorted. We do agree that the planet is changing- sea-level is rising; the winds are stronger than it used to be; they are not coming on the times they used to come; the rains fall on the wrong time; the dry season is drier than before - weather patterns are shifting. This is very real in the Maldives. Even as we speak people are having to move their homes because of erosion. We have had very bad four years of fishing because fish are not coming up as they used to. These events and many others are very real and it is a threat to us. If we let ourselves lose and not work on this, not have our focus on these issues, we will soon find ourselves unable to defend and unable to fend for ourselves. In Copenhagen, we are hopefully talking about a two degree rise in temperature or an agreement that binds all nations to abide by principles that would only give room for a two degrees rise in temperature. Anything above two degrees would completely annihilate the Maldives and half of Bangladesh and many other nations here. It is very difficult for us to be talking about degrees. When you talk about that you are actually talking about the destruction of the Maldives and the destruction of many other people and countries. We cannot just sit idle and let this happen. We have to be able to find solutions, processes and options on how we may be able to deal with this situation. For us it is so difficult to imagine that we might not exist. We have been living in the middle of the Indian Ocean for the last 2000 years. We have a written history of 2000 years. We have a culture, we have a civilisation and it is just simply impossible for us to comprehend and digest that we will not be around during the next century. It is with this urgency that we have come out to seek a solution for this. We hope that other nations would agree with us and assist us in trying to make the world a safer place to live. In our minds, climate change is not just an environmental issue. It is a human rights issue. It is the right to live. It is a fundamental right. Therefore, it is non-negotiable. We cannot negotiate with our
lives. And also, we will have to be mindful that climate change is the singular most important security issue that is arising internationally. We will very soon, we believe, see situations where climatic issues come to the forefront of international relations. When other threats were recognised as international threats, the international community came out and drew up borders, defined frontline states. Similarly, in climate change we should now be defining frontline states. In our minds, if you cannot save the Maldives today, you will not be able to save yourselves tomorrow. Maldives is a frontline state. I would like to remind here, it is not a faraway country. In 1938 the British Prime Minister pointed out -- in reference to Poland -- mentioned that it is a coral in a faraway country with people who we know nothing about. There is no faraway country. And if you did not protect Poland then, you wouldn t have defended yourselves now. And if you cannot defend the Maldives today, it is going to be very difficult for you to defend yourselves tomorrow. We would like to see international relations more defined in a manner where climatic issues are addressed so that they become the main focus. In this regard, we feel that there is a need to bring a number of reforms to the United Nations Security Council. We feel that if we want to get Indians, Brazilians and other bigger developing nations to listen to us, we should be able to bring them to the United Nations Security Council. After 1947, we got members into the Security Council. The reasons for their seats, as we all know, was because of their strength or their fire power, in a sense, the strength that they have in destroying the world and for that reason we have got five permanent Security Council members. Now we are facing a different threat. In this threat there are other countries that have similar capabilities or actions of other countries can make the world a very unhappy place for us. So we should now define international relations along these lines and we hope that we can bring bigger developing countries to become members of the United Nations Security Council. In our minds, we also feel that the best form of adaptation is, or the best measure for adaptation is, good governance. It is going to be very difficult for us to adapt to climate change issues if we do not have solid and secure democratic governance. There are many examples, especially in the Maldives on how bad governance has been at the root of our inability to come up with proper adaptation measures. During the last 3-4 years, the government of Maldives started up adaptation measures in 120 islands at a cost of 2000 million dollars. Four years down the line none of it is working. All construction has stopped. This is all because there was no consultation with the people and the contracts went to the wrong hands. We feel that the most important adaptation issue for climate change is democracy and good governance. Yes, we do understand how important it is to have aid in all its form and assistance in every manner that we can have. But we still feel that it is not always revetments and embankments and a whole lot of concrete that is required for adaptation, but it is good governance that is required for adaptation. Physical adaptation is very expensive. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown s one hundred billion pound would only be enough to build revetments in the Maldives. It is a very expensive business. We
have to be able to find home-grown solutions for adaptation. We have to be able to understand softer or biological engineering methods. To do that, again, what is required most is good governance and democracy. The Maldives during the last four years have been able to come up with a home-grown democratic movement. We have been able to galvanise the public to political activism. We have been able to have our first free and fair elections. We were able to have political parties. We were able to create room or space for freedom of expression. We ve had our first multi-party elections and we have also had a very smooth transfer of power. The former President is still intact. Why I am saying this is because we have done this against the odds. No one, the Baroness might, would have actually believed there would be such changes in the Maldives and we would be able to win the last elections. But it is singular focus and remaining in focus at the issue and working consistently at it all the time. Similarly, in climate change -- it is a huge task. But if we call ourselves responsible politicians and if we want to deliver an inheritance to our children and grand children, we have to be able to find solutions today. We cannot pass on this problem to the next generation. If we do that it would be too late and we would have reached the tipping points where we cannot any longer save our planet. That indeed would be very sad. For me it is very difficult to believe or digest that humanity would actually do that. In my mind - I m sure many MPs here would understand this - the people will come up and will decide to change. Politicians only do anything when people want them to do something. To understand or to gauge the needs, the wishes of the people you need governance, you need democracy. So, not only for adaptation, but even for mitigation, to pressure governments to act, the most important ingredient again is democracy and good governance human rights, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly. So again and again, I have to stress that, in my mind, it is good governance that stands at the heart - at the core - of the climate change issue. In any battle, in any struggle, you have to listen to the frontline voices. It is this voice, this time coming from the Maldives. It is not me. And I m sure I am very insignificant, unimportant. But what might happen to this world is very important. So please listen to the Maldives and what is happening in the Maldives. If you cannot, again I say, defend the Maldives today, you will not be able to defend yourselves tomorrow. So again, in conclusion -- before going into that conclusion -- I would also like to stress a few points on what we might be able to achieve in Copenhagen. In my mind, the Kyoto Protocol is a list of things that you shouldn t do. It is very difficult to sell such a list to any politician. We love opening up power plants, cutting ribbons. That s the stuff of good politicians. They always like to open up power plants. And it is very difficult for us to tell our people that they cannot have electricity that they cannot have sewerages, roads, water, harbours - because they are going to die; because the climate will change if they have electricity. It is very difficult for us to do that. Especially for bigger developing countries it is almost impossible for them to go and tell
their people that they cannot have that power plant. So as it stands, it is going to be increasingly impossible for the Kyoto Protocol to find friends among bigger developing nations. We feel that if we can change the Protocol to be list of things that you should do: you should build so many renewable energy plants, country x can build so many plants, country Y should build so many plants, or still try to achieve the less than two degree mark - twenty percent emission below 1990 levels. So if the Protocol can become a list of things that you have to do, the good politicians can again go out cutting ribbons. I feel that it would be easier for us to make it a success. Especially if developed countries are willing to assist the renewable energy funds. We understand that renewable energy might be a little expensive than diesel. But in my mind why the Maldives decided to become carbon neutral in ten years is because we feel that it is economically viable and it is economically more prudent to be using renewable energy, Fuel, diesel is very expensive. As it stands now, in some of our schools in the outer islands, electricity bill is more than 50 percent of school budget. It is about 50 percent of health centre budget. So you can t really keep health centres and the schools going with the price of electricity as they are. We have to be able to find a cheaper energy source. I am told that renewable energy is cheaper in recurrent expenditure even though it might be more expensive in capital. But we all know that if that expense or the difference in capital expense can be shared among all of us, than I am sure we should be able to come up with a better carbon neutral plan for many nations. We have drawn up our carbon neutral plan. Many of the Commonwealth countries, we are having to lay afresh electricity grids, water pipelines and sewerages. So when we are doing that for the first time, in my mind, it is better if we invest in tomorrow s technology than on yesterday s diesel, especially when the recurrent expenditure is cheaper. For developed countries, for them to have renewable alternative sources, they would have to change their power plants. But for us if we can still continue building capacity on renewable then we can be carbon neutral within ten to fifteen year. The Maldives has drawn up that plan and we feel that we can succeed in that. Again, in conclusion, our point is this: we need democracy for mitigation and adaptation for climate change. For mitigation: because if you want to get political leaders to do anything you have to be able to raise your voice and say it. To do that, you need all the freedom, you need your basic freedom freedom of assembly, freedom of expression, peaceful and organised political activity. So for mitigation you need that. For adaptation it is far more important. You need consultation with the people. You cannot be building revetments in the wrong place, at the wrong time, by the wrong people. That is a certain recipe for the disaster. Climate change in our mind is not only an environmental issue. It is a human rights issue and it is a strategic issue. It is security issue. So we have to be able to deal with it in terms of an international security issue. It is as much a threat. Kofi Anan has estimated that last year, I think, some 300,000 people died because of climate change. And that is going to increase. So this is going to be the singular most important security issue that the world faced. Again, I thank you all for listening to me and I thank the Commonwealth, the Baroness, for inviting us here. It is a pleasure to be here in the House of Commons. During our exile times we visited the
place many times, we begged many MPs to raise their voices on our behalf. Today, I would like to thank them all for the good work that they have done. Thank you very much. Source: http://presidencymaldives.gov.mv/4/?ref=1,6,1407 (Ref #: PRO/RMN/2009/170)