Maldives President might skip Copenhagen climate summit

- By. Dr. Abdul ruff Colachal

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Combating climate change is the top most global issue more than the so-called fictitious terrorism which has been unleashed by the big powers to advance their global interests, including energy land-sea routes and arms trade. IST/GST (International or Global state terrorism) has caused non-state terrorism and the perpetrators are controlled by the GSTs themselves. Reckless use of fusels and US/NATO led terror wars have increased the phase of possible climate change causing serious problems to the island nations, possible most of them would be drowned in the seas. The largest atmospheric polluters –criminal states, USA, China and India are cruelly playing with the lives of the island nations. In South Asia, Maldives and Sri Lanka are the most threatened nations because of pollution trends. World leaders keep meeting at summits, but they never approached the issue serious enough to find reliable solutions.

World leaders at the summit are aiming to create a new agreement to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocal, which expires in 2012. The president of the Maldives Mohamed Nasheed has said that, even though his country is under threat from climate change, he cannot afford to go to a summit on the issue. "We can't go to Copenhagen because we don't have the money," President Nasheed told journalists.  President Nasheed said his nation would only go to the December talks in Copenhagen if someone offered to pay for the trip. He said the Maldives needed to be defended from the effects of global warming and rising sea levels. But he added that the country would have to do much of the work itself.

President Nasheed, a former human rights activist who came to power 10 months ago, said climate change summits were at times "childish" because countries tended to blame each other over past misdeeds rather than think practically. He hoped the Copenhagen summit would come out with positive plans, like renewable energy promotion, rather than stressing what he called negative ones like capping carbon emissions.

No part of the island state's territory lies more than 2.5m above sea level, and 50 of its islands are already severely eroding. The president said this showed that climate change was not just an environment issue, but a security issue as well. "I keep saying this: if the Europeans thought it was important to defend Poland in the '30s and '40s - in any threat you really have to look after your frontline states. ”Now, the Maldives is a frontline state." The country is planning a major clean-up of its technology and the president said parliament will shortly consider a "green tax" of three dollars per tourist per day.

What Maldives is embarking upon at home is fine, but what is more important is glbola response: the G8 plus must be taking emissions cut project quite sincerely and on a time frame. Time is indeed running out!

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