MALE (AFP) — Dozens of small island nations opened talks in the Maldives Tuesday to draft a strategy to combat rising water levels in the world's oceans, which are threatening their very existence.
Delegates from 26 low-lying nations at risk -- including Tonga, Micronesia and Kiribati -- are meeting to craft a proposal ahead of global climate change talks on the Indonesian resort island of Bali in December.
"Time is running out for us to ensure the survival of our future generation," Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom said in a speech to open the two-day meeting.
The low-lying nations fear not enough is being done to cut the greenhouse gases that are said to cause global warming, which experts warn could melt glaciers and polar ice caps, leading to a sharp increase in sea levels before the end of the century.
A United Nations climate panel recently forecast that world sea levels are likely to rise up to 59 centimetres (23 inches) by 2100.
With millions of lives at stake, Gayoom warned that climate change was about much more than the environment, science or politics, telling delegates: "It is fundamentally an issue about people."
He said 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."
"There is no greater problem in the world today than climate change," added Maldivian Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid.
"The problem is getting worse -- there seems to be a lack of political will by world leaders to address this issue."
The summit is expected to produce a declaration saying that climate change threatens the rights of individuals to live safe and sustainable lives.
Gayoom, who has ruled the Maldives since 1978, has warned that a one-metre rise in sea levels could prove the "death of a nation," making the inhabitants of his country's 1,192 coral islands the first environmental refugees.
Scientific opinion is divided on how soon that could happen, with estimates ranging from 30 to 100 years.
The Maldives, home to 330,000 Sunni Muslims, is a magnet for well-heeled tourists and celebrities attracted to the white sand 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 in South Asia with a per capita annual income of 2,700 dollars.
Strengthening sea defences around 50 of the inhabited islands in the Maldives will cost about 1.5 billion dollars, officials here said.
The global climate change summit in Bali aims to secure the agreement of nations to negotiate a new regime to combat climate change when the current phase of the Kyoto Protocol ends in 2012.
More than 100 ministers are expected to attend the Bali talks.
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