MALDIVES CABINET GOES UNDERWATER FOR OFFICIAL MEETING

Photos available here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/350org/sets/72157622478004909/

More hi-res photos here: http://www.presidencymaldives.gov.mv/4/gallery/?t=1# 

Maldives blogs are up: 

(1) http://www.350.org/about/blogs/first-photos-coming-maldives-underwater-cabinet-meeting-350

(2) http://www.350.org/about/blogs/more-maldives

Watch the Underwater Cabinet Meeting live via the official Maldives webcast!
Go to the Maldives Press Room and click the image you see below:

Maldives Underwater Cabinet Meeting Live Webcast

PRESS RELEASE: MALDIVES CABINET GOES UNDERWATER FOR OFFICIAL MEETING
 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
10/17/09  

Contact: Cosabeth Bullock
+1.202.478.6128
    cbullock@mrss.com

 
MALDIVES CABINET GOES UNDERWATER FOR OFFICIAL MEETING
To raise awareness of the looming fate of the Maldives and push for stronger climate resolutions, President Nasheed will hold a meeting underwater
 
MALE, MALDIVES -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 – 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.”
 
For photos of the Maldivian cabinet practicing for the underwater meeting, please click here: www.350.org/maldives or you can visit the President's office website here: http://www.presidencymaldives.gov.mv/4/gallery/?g=235
 
     
###
ABOUT 350.ORG
Founded by American environmentalist and author Bill McKibben, 350.org is an international campaign dedicated to building a movement to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis—the solutions that science and justice demand. Their mission is to inspire the world to rise to the challenge of the climate crisis—to create a new sense of urgency and of possibility for our planet.
 
350 parts per million is what many scientists, climate experts, and progressive national governments are now saying is the safe upper limit for CO2 in our atmosphere. Scientists have concluded that we are already above the safe zone at our current 390ppm, and that unless we are able to rapidly return to 350 ppm this century, we risk reaching tipping points and irreversible impacts such as the melting of the Greenland ice sheet and major methane releases from increased permafrost melt.
 
For more information, visit www.350.org
 

[September 29th] Maldives Cabinet Members Receive Scuba Training for Underwater Resolution for 350
 

For hi-resolution photos of President Nasheed and the Maldives Cabinet preparing for their historic underwater meeting, click here. 

[September 22nd] President Nasheed addresses over 100 world leaders at the United Nations.
In a speech to avoid "suicide," he called on them to take immediate action to reach 350 ppm in order to ensure the survival of his nation and safeguard the planet's atmosphere.

 

In a separate address, President Nasheed called for 350 actions around the world for October 24 and the International Day of Climate Action.

 

The underwater cabinet meeting, as well as some of the underwater action plans in the Maldives for the 24th of October, is being coordinated by DAM, the Divers Association of Maldives.  Here is there creative video in preparation for the events...