Making a point in the Maldives

President Mohamed Nasheed and his colleagues finned out to tables and chairs arranged on a sandy bottom about 6m down, in a coral lagoon off a military training island near Male.

Those ministers who were not previously divers underwent training sufficient to ensure that the 30-minute meeting went without any dramas.

Zoona Naseem, President of Divers Association of Maldives, told press that the diving novices were "all very enthusiastic".

Each cabinet member was accompanied by a military diving instructor and a minder.

How well the ministers got on with their discussions we're not sure! But, symbolically while at their underwater conference table, they were able to sign a document calling for action in reducing carbon emissions.

The Government is supporting the 350.org Global Day of Climate Action on 24 October. Campaigners will hold demonstrations globally urging world leaders toward a meaningful deal at the UN climate change summit in Copenhagen from 7-18 December.

Any new agreement will succeed the Kyoto Protocol, ratified in 1997 and due to expire in 2012.

Scientists have said that leaders should aim to implement measures aimed at reducing the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to less than 350ppm.

The Maldives has committed itself to becoming the world's first carbon-neutral country within ten years.

As the world's lowest-lying sovereign state, at an average of just a couple of metres above sea level, the Maldives lie at risk should sea levels rise as a result of global warming.

The Government has already prepared contingency plans for the repatriation of its people to new land purchased overseas, should the worst occur and the Maldives one day succumb to the sea.

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