Climate change and sea level rise are causing an emergency for the whole world, especially for island countries like the Maldives, President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has said.
He made the remarks in his address at the High-Level Meeting on Sea Level Rise at the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York on Wednesday.
Muizzu said the climate emergency was "threatening our way of life, our cultural identity and our heritage."
"Climate change, and resulting sea level rise, demands urgent, consistent and coordinated global action. Actions that enhance the adaptive capacity of coastal communities and low-lying island States – that are most susceptible," he said.
The President highlighted three steps that can be taken to avoid the dangers of rising sea levels - facilitate access to climate financing, operationalize the Loss and Damage Fund and transfer technology.
However, Muizzu earlier faced criticism for stating that there was no significant threat to Maldives from sea level rise during an interview with Al Jazeera immediately after winning the presidential election.
"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 in the interview.
