The government's Special Envoy for Climate Change Ali Shareef has defended President Dr Mohamed Muizzu's controversial remarks about the threat posed by climate change to Maldives.
Shareef was appointed under the Climate Emergency Act on November 22. Before leaving to attend the COP28 summit in Dubai, he defended the remarks made by the President in an interview with Al Jazeera.
"I think it's misinterpreted. The President said we have been talking about it for long, that we were talking about it 50 years ago too. In other words, technically it's true," Shareef said.
Shareef said we have been talking about sea-level rise before and now and added that it is proven by science.
Muizzu faced widespread criticism for dismissing the most likely consequence of climate change to the Maldives in his first interview with international media since being elected President.
"It's always been predicted... I don't think it [reports by international organizations like NASA] is true. The same predictions were made 50 years ago. We have never seen a scenario where sea levels are rising that much," Muizzu said.
Some people expressed concern that the country's outspoken stance on environmental issues in the international arena could change with the new government.
But his remarks in the Al Jazeera interview were misinterpreted to mean that he does not believe in climate change, his spokesman said at the time.
