Former President of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, recently made a triumphant return to his home country as head of the national parliament after several years of exile in the UK. As President, he became an internationally celebrated leader for his efforts to raise awareness of the urgent human impacts of sea level rise. His voice helped call global attention of the looming displacement reality of the small, low-lying island nations in the Pacific. We spoke with Nasheed on the sidelines of the Skoll World Forum several years ago and that conversation—edited here—remains relevant today.
Skoll: What do you think it will take to prevent the Maldives from going under water and what are your hopes for global action on climate change?
Mohamed Nasheed: I think it’s too late for the Maldives now. We have increased carbon emissions to a level where global temperatures will rise over two degrees. When that happens, sea levels will rise, and it will be difficult to save the Maldives without a fair amount of adaptation.
In my view the most important adaptation measure is good governance and good democracy. Without good governance, you do the wrong infrastructure projects, in the wrong place and at the wrong price.
With good governance you would understand that what happens to the Maldives will happen to a quarter of the world’s population. We cannot have a situation where a quarter of the world’s population is moving from their homes, trying to find dry land, destabilizing many countries. It’s very, very important that we find adaptation measures now.
Skoll: Can you describe when the issue of climate change became important for you personally?
Nasheed: I started my working life as a journalist and that was what took me to jail in the very first place. I was mainly writing about human rights and democracy and good governance, but I was also writing about the impacts of climate change on the Maldives. Almost all our islands have water shortage now because the water aquifer is contaminated. The adaptation challenges we face are immense. Because ocean temperatures have risen, there is extensive coral bleaching. We rely on our livelihood by fishing—the second biggest industry in the Maldives is fishing and the reefs are dying. Our biggest trade is tourism and that depends on the health of the coral reef.
Skoll: As President, you used your position to speak out about climate change, to try to influence other nations. Can you describe that journey and how you evolved into that level of activism?
Nasheed: We wanted to impress upon the international community the gravity of the issue that the Maldives was facing. We decided to have a cabinet meeting under water. You might have seen that picture? I think it circulated all throughout the world and brought the Maldives to the focus. There are more than 40 small islands nations countries facing this issue and we must together find solutions.
I have always felt that carbon emission is not necessarily equal to development. Very often, we find developing countries arguing that since the West has emitted carbon for the last 200 years, the emerging democracies and countries have the right to emit the same amount of carbon. This is like saying that the West brought us to the brink and now developing countries must have the right to push us off the cliff. I don’t think this is a reasonable argument.
New, renewable energy technology allows development without that kind of carbon emission. It is no longer simply an ethical issue, but an economic issue. I think developing countries aspiring to be leading countries, must take up the renewable course and champion that. We must start using the market mechanism and the profit motive to save the planet and start advocating climate change issues more through that prism, rather than taking it on as a human rights or an ethical issue.
For instance, a country like Sri Lanka has 20 million people and a growing economy. Sri Lanka produces 1300 megawatts of electricity, diesel generated electricity, at a cost of 30 cents a unit. Today the cost of renewables at most is 20 cents a unit. Sri Lanka can be saving 1.1 billion dollars of foreign currency every year if they switch to renewables. It’s really a no-brainer—renewables are economically far more viable.
Skoll: Given the scale of the problem, what keeps you hopeful that something can change fast enough to keep us from dropping off that cliff?
Nasheed: Every day you have doubts, and every day you have hopes as well. I have immense faith in humanity and the ingenuity of people—they will come up with solutions. A low carbon development strategy can be implemented. When climate change becomes an election issue, politicians and political parties will make pledges to the people based on science and the new technology.
I think it’s up to the young people to work on these ideas, to do their undergraduate courses, to do their post-graduate degrees, based on the new science on energy, housing, and many other adaptation measures. I think there are lots of new opportunities available and it falls on the next generation to move these new ideas.
I believe we can win against the odds even now. It is of course a little bit late for the Maldives, but for humanity, it’s not too late. We do not have a planet B and therefore we cannot have a plan B. You cannot negotiate with the laws of science. You can’t cut a deal with physics.
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“MS_350CAB0004” by Presidency Maldives is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
