The goal of keeping temperatures from crossing 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels is essential to keep nations of the Climate Vulnerable Forum from being wiped off the face of the earth, says Former President and current Speaker of Parliament Mohamed Nasheed.
He said this in his address at the GLOBE COP26 Legislators Summit on Friday.
Taking the podium, the former president noted that Maldives, is more than a couple of meters above the sea level and that the nation is already seeing coasts eroding as the seas rise and the waves eat away at more and more of its land.
Stressing that the world is living in a planet of 1.2degrees heated above the industrial revolution, Nasheed noted that Maldives has lost its biodiversity, bait fish and therefore its tuna fishing industry, as the Maldivian waters are contaminated and need desalination.
We are already seeing more impacts of climate change than many generations have ever seen in our countries. That is why COP26 is so important, because as I said, at the outset of the meeting, it represents our last hope of keeping 1.5-degree Paris goal aligned. This goal of keeping temperatures from crossing 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels is essential if any of our corals are to survive in their natural stake. It is essential if my nation is to stay above the sea level and it is also essential if other nations of the climate vulnerable forum are not to be similarly wiped off the face of the earth, by drought or by fire or flood.”Mohamed Nasheed, Speaker of Parliament.
He went on to state that it is short-term action that will count, and that it is action now, that truly counts. As such, noting that it is immediate action that must bend the curve for our survival, the Maldivian speaker stated that CVF urges something that represents a radical departure from business as usual.
He stated that a Glasgow climate emergency pact is essential, adding that this would establish annual climate emergency ambition platforms for 2030 ambition at each COP between 2022 and 2025.
This would be for enhancing ambition beyond just the NDCs, not every five years but every year. Because in the climate emergency, every year counts, every month counts, every minute counts. We also need to focus on finance, because without a delivery plan for USD 500 billion by 2024, developing countries will lose faith and good will. The financing promises we made a long time ago and they must be fulfilled by the end of COP26.”Mohamed Nasheed, Speaker of Parliament.
Expressing pride that Maldives has put forward a goal of neutralizing carbon by 2030, Nasheed said that the country stands willing, but cannot do it alone.
With this being said the speaker stated that parliamentarians and leaders must deliver their pledges promised to the people, and must remember that it is the people who elected them, that they answer to.
Nasheed urged parliaments and elected representatives to contribute their best efforts to the work on climate.
In the Maldives, as speaker of the Maldives parliament, I have encouraged the passage of the climate emergency bill. That act prescribes a pathway to Net Zero in the Maldives. Like the flagship UK act, it stipulates the establishment of a carbon budget for each calendar year in order to meet their 2030 goal. This makes our target legally binding, and establishes the mechanism for reaching it.”Mohamed Nasheed, Speaker of Parliament.
In conclusion the speaker said that he is not willing to sign a suicide note for his nation and that it is important to set aside differences to unite and use the power of parliaments to deliver 1.5 degrees.
He urged the parliaments to save the planet, as “we are the generation to do that”.
