Give Us Your Money, Says Maldives President

By Paul Homewood

h/t Patsy Lacey

From the Guardian:

For the Maldives, the existential threat of the climate crisis, particularly sea level rise, has been a reality we have grappled with for decades. In 1989, recognising the urgency of our situation, with our islands standing just one metre above sea level, we brought this issue to the global stage for the first time.

This early recognition of our vulnerability sparked a national transformation as we embarked on proactive climate resilience and adaptation measures. Thirty-five years later, has the rest of the world truly been listening? If you look at how the world’s reaction to the climate crisis is funded, the answer is clearly “no”.

For decades, Small Island Developing States (Sids) like the Maldives have been bearing the brunt of global warming with minimal support. The Maldives is liable for just 0.003% of global emissions, but is one of the first countries to endure the existential consequences of the climate crisis. Wealthier nations have a moral responsibility to communities like ours. Yet Sids are given only about 14% of the finance that the least developed countries receive.

The problem is that the current global financial architecture is outdated and not fit for purpose: its use of legacy metrics such as gross national income (GNI) and gross domestic product (GDP) skews our economic reality, painting Sids as wealthier than we are, barring us from critical funding opportunities. And, thanks to the Maldives’ healthy tourism industry, we are ranked as an emerging economy and therefore shut out…………………………………………………………….

https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/25/maldives-climate-crisis-small-islands-climate-finance#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=17166442127023&csi=0&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com

I think you can guess the rest of the “give us your money” appeal from the Maldives President.

But could this be the same Maldives that are busy with major plans to expand their main airport?

In a significant development for the Maldives’ aviation sector, President Mohamed Muizzu has laid out an ambitious vision for the future of Velana International Airport (VIA).

The project’s inauguration, held at the prestigious Dharubaaruge venue in the capital city of Male, marked a historic chapter for the Maldives.

The initial phase of VIA’s development is well underway, culminating in the launch of a state-of-the-art terminal later this year, capable of accommodating a staggering 7.3 million passengers.

President Muizzu’s vision, however, transcends the immediate future, with a bold target set at welcoming 25 million passengers over the next two decades.

https://aviationsourcenews.com/airport/maldives-unveils-major-expansion-plan-for-velana-international-airport/

And surely it cannot be the President Muizzu, who has plans for his airport to handle 25 million passengers a year in twenty years time?

Surely not, because what will all these tourists do when the islands are all under water?

And could this be the same Maldives that have benefitted enormously from all of those fossil fuelled tourist flights in recent years?

You only have to look at how GDP fell through the floor during the 2020 lockdowns. Would Mr Muizzi really like those days to return permanently?

It is largely because of this tourist boom that the Maldives population has increased fivefold since the 1960s.

According to Wikipedia, “In the early 1970s, the Maldives was one of the world’s 20 poorest countries”. It is only tourism which has lifted the economy. But maybe Mr Muizzi would like his half million inhabitants to return to poverty, which they inevitably will if we all give up fossil fuels and air travel, as the Guardian would like. And heaven knows how the islands could cope with half a million people, with an economy relying largely on fishing, as it did in the 1960s.

Of course, these silly sea level scares are not new. In 1988 the Maldives government was predicting that the whole country would be submerged by now: