KURUMBA VILLAGE, Maldives (AFP) — Dozens of the world's small island nations appealed Wednesday for rapid international action against climate change, fearing it is only a matter of time before they are submerged.
Delegates from 26 low-lying nations, including Tuvalu, Micronesia, Kiribati and Palau, ended two-days of talks in this Maldives tourist by closing ranks ahead of a global climate change meeting in Bali in December.
"We are the most affected. We deserve more support to protect our countries, our communities, from rising sea levels... our voices, our concerns must be heard and taken note of," Maldivian Environment Minister Ahmed Abdualla said.
He said low-lying nations urged the United Nations to include the human dimension of global climate change -- in other words the very survival of low-lying islanders -- on the agenda at Bali.
More than 100 ministers are expected to attend the Bali meeting, which aims to secure the agreement of nations to negotiate a new regime to combat climate change when the current phase of Kyoto Protocol ends in 2012.
"We hope leaders who attend the Bali summit will take our concerns seriously," said a representative of the Comoros Permanent Mission to the United Nations, El-Marouf Mohamed.
Small nations feel the human element will give a new dimension to their fight to persuade bigger nations to cut back on the greenhouse gases that are causing global warming.
"We are using a different lever, to remind bigger countries of their moral obligations to honour their promises," Grenada's permanent representative to the UN, Angus Friday, told reporters.
Experts have warned that global warming will melt glaciers and polar ice caps, leading to a sharp increase in sea levels before the end of the 21st century.
A United Nations climate panel recently said world sea levels are likely to rise up to 59 centimetres (23 inches) by 2100.
"We are seeing unusual rises in sea water levels, it's affecting our crops, homes, it's threatening our livelihoods," Fiji's Environment Minister Bernadette Rounds Ganilau said.
"Time is running out."
Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom also warned that a one-metre rise in sea levels would herald the "death of a nation."
Scientific opinion is divided on how soon that could happen, with estimates ranging from 30 to 100 years.
He told delegates that the tidal surges experienced on 80 of the Maldives' 200 inhabited islands earlier this year were "a grim reminder of the devastating tsunami of 2004 and a clear warning of future disasters."
Strengthening sea defences around 50 of the inhabited islands in the Maldives will cost about 1.5 billion dollars, officials here have said.
Home to 330,000 Sunni Muslims, Maldives is a top destination for well-heeled tourists and celebrities attracted to the white, palm-fringed beaches, where holiday bungalows are built on stilts over turquoise lagoons.
Tourism and fishing together account for two-thirds of the country's economy of just under a billion dollars, and have made it one of the richest nations in South Asia with a per capita annual income of 2,700 dollars.
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