Global President not a Local President in Climate Change

The Maldives islands are one of the smallest island nations of the world. With a population of around 300,000 people scattered across 1200 islands it is the ideal destination for tourists seeking solitude, relaxation and comfort.
In 2008 Maldives joined the ranks of other Democratic countries by electing a President via public vote through a multi party process, ending 30 years of cruel dictatorship that left the country way back in development than it could have been. Quite strangely this did not create as much media frenzy as did the president Mohammed Nasheed’s spectacular performance at the Copenhagen Conference of Parties 15th meeting in 2009.
Maldives made headlines weeks before the summit when the president declared to go Carbon Neutral by 2020 with support from world renown environmental scientist Mark Lynas. Maldives also accepted and supported the 350 ppm of CO2 in atmosphere campaign run by the 350.org people. In October 2009 President Nasheed made headlines again by conducting an underwater cabinet meeting for the 350.org day of action.
In Copenhagen he was seen as a savior of the small island nations who were affected by drastic changes in climate including receding coastlines and salty groundwater. Mr.Nasheed was on the spot light all throughout the COP15 giving interviews and globally announcing the support for 350.org campaign. At one point he was named the “Global President” by civil society movements.
The whole heroic deeds came to a bitter end when at the end of the COP15 when all other small island nations including Tuvalu claimed the summit to be a failure as no agreements were reached to the expectations but president Nasheed in his concluding speech boasted the summit a success.
Some say he wanted the fame and others say he simply did not understand the outcomes and implications of the decisions made. Quite frankly my opinion is he did not understand the negotiations process and had not been briefed on the actual science but we still can leave this aside.
Now we look at Maldives and what it has done in the wake of COP15 to go carbon neutral or just simply for environmental preservation.
What has happened:
• Government has Reclaimed 13 islands each with at least 8 hectors of land
• Out of these approximately 80% of reclamation was done usafely by not using a protection net hence silt covered up a lot of the reefs, according to environmentalists
• Civil Society support has been nil by the government
• Public and Civil society involvement in decisions and accumulation of the message and stand for COP16 was not done
• More media friendly events were supported like the Hay Festival where the Minister of Environment gave absolutely fantastic interviews and reads and also the Solar Panels on the Presidents residence
• The Environmental Protection Agency –the monitoring body is still a government body rather than an independent commission or authority
• No civil society capacity developmental actions taken or even encouragements
• All environmental decision including deciding to allow some islands to Culture Sea Cucumber of alien species in fresh water lakes are all politically motivated
The list goes on but I shall not bore you. So my great concern is this year the Maldives will be seen as a JOKE rather than a serious negotiator if spectacular media sketches are played rather than proper negotiations. Also I wonder what Mr.Nasheed would say if a media asks him: “what are the local efforts of mitigation being carried out in the Maldives?”