Tällberg Conversation - Saving Paradise
The Maldives has been described as Paradise on Earth – and nature has so far been very kind to the small island state. In a text published in the International Herald Tribune last year, the Maldives President and 2009 Anna Lindh Prize winner, Mohamed Nasheed paints the picture of “Crusoe islands of swaying palms and snow-soft sand, encircled by turquoise lagoons and coral reefs teeming with all the exuberance of life.” And yet, the islands are now threatened by steadily increasing climate change. The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts sea level rise of over half a meter during this century. More current calculations tell us the IPCC are likely to have underestimated the sea level rise, which could reach 2 meters. The Maldives has an average height above sea level of merely 1.4 meters.
The case of the Maldives makes brutally clear the catastrophic scenarios that climate change may bring in many areas around the world.
It also raises many important issues regarding our common responsibility for climate change. If our actions in the developed world knowingly undermine the human rights of people in places like the Maldives, what ethical questions does this raise? Is international cooperation to effectively address climate change a legal obligation under human rights law? What are the rights of a people whose land disappears due to climate change? What are the rights of people living on land plagued by droughts or floods, making escape the only solution?
The Anna Lindh Memorial Fund awards President Mohamed Nasheed the 2009 Anna Lindh Prize for the Maldives’ great efforts to put people and their human rights at the heart of the debate on climate change. He is also awarded for his role in the Maldives’ peaceful transition to democracy.
The newly elected President of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, declared on the eve of his inauguration in November 2008 that, because of global warming, he may, if the world does not act to arrest dangerous climate interference, have to try to find a new homeland for Maldivians “somewhere else in the world, on higher ground.”
Welcome to a lecture on climate change, human rights, and the story of a young President fighting for his people.
Following the lecture by the 2009 Anna Lindh Prize winner President Mohamed Nasheed, a discussion will follow on the repercussions of climate change on fundamental human rights around the world as well as on the current climate change challenges and opportunities, particularly in view of Sweden’s impending EU Presidency and COP15 in Copenhagen.
Monday 15 June, 16.00 – 18.00 at Lava, Kulturhuset, Sergels Torg Program:
- Introduction Jan Eliasson, Chairman, Anna Lindh Memorial Fund
- Saving Paradise Mohamed Nasheed, President of the Maldives
- Discussion with: Ahmed Shaheed, Foreign Minister of the Maldives, Emma Lindberg, Naturskyddsföreningen and Rolf A Vestvik, Director, Norwegian Refugee Council.
- Closing remark by Bo Ekman, Chairman, Tällberg Foundation
Registration:
There is no cost for this event but we kindly ask you to register here. The deadline for registration is 14 June.
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