Vulnerable Nations Make 'Global Survival Pact'
The President of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, is sick and tired of rich countries perched high above rising sea levels doing too little to halt climate change. As host of a two-day conference of the 11 countries most at risk from global warming, he chastised countries with big carbon footprints for failing to act strongly enough, according to Voice of America.
The threatened nations have decided to take matters into their own hands. Nasheed called on his compatriots to join him in a "global survival pact" by taking the lead on climate action.
"It is easy to assume that it can be solved by a messy political compromise between powerful states," VOA reports Nasheed saying. "But the fact of the matter is, we cannot negotiate with the laws of physics. We cannot cut a deal with mother nature."
The Maldives has been particularly vocal and active in addressing the problem. In the first half of the 2009 the island nation dedicated itself to becoming the first carbon neutral nation, beginning construction on a wind farm that will provide almost half the country's electricity. Last month, the cabinet held a meeting underwater to highlight their plight if nothing is done to reverse climate change.
Act on Copenhagen reports that the countries involved in the global survival pact are Kiribati, Bangladesh, Nepal, Vietnam, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Barbados and Bhutan. Various other nations attended the conference as observers, including China, Denmark, France, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, the UK and the United States.
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