“President [Donald] Trump’s repudiation from the Paris agreement in effect is a death sentence on the Maldives, a number of low-lying islands and coastal areas”, says former President Mohamed Nasheed.

He made the statement in an interview to Sky News on Saturday evening.

Noting that “the man-made changes in climate that the accord is designed to limit have big impacts on island communities”, President Nasheed said Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris climate accord is a “death sentence” for Maldives. He added that Trump’s “determination to switch back to coal as a power source was out of date”.

However, he noted that there is a silver lining in Trump’s decision, that “this has brought the issue more to the front”.

“We want to highlight the issue”, said the former President, adding that the issue is not something in the future for Maldives, but something that is already happening.

He further noted that Maldives is only 1.5 metres above sea level, adding that this makes the country “very fragile” and that “small changes to climate has a big impact on Maldives”.

Trump has been facing immense criticism following his decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord, including President Vladamir Putin of Russia, who said that he did not ‘judge” the decision, and telling world leaders ‘don’t worry, be happy’. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was disappointed is Trump’s decision while French President Emmanuel Macron responded with “make our planet great again”.

While Trump did leave room to renegotiate the deal, Macron informed him that the Paris accord “could not be negotiated”

Even former President Barack Obama chimed in, noting that the decision “would leave American workers behind those in countries who remain a part of the agreement”.

Noting that he believes that America should be “at the front of the pack”, Obama said that he is confident that, even in the absence of American leadership, “[our] states, cities, and businesses will step up”.

Prior to being elected the President of the United States, Trump had spent years publicly ridiculing the idea of global warming, calling it a “hoax” and “a total con job”.