"In Copenhagen, Denmark... 120 world leaders cooped up inside one building." "Negotiations continue with maximum chaos." "Mohamed nasheed, the president of the Maldives... do you see any signs of progress?" "That big meeting going on in Copenhagen." "If there's going to be a deal on how to save the planet, it's got to happen soon." "World leaders are holding closed-door talks, and they're really trying to work out some type of last-minute agreement, and it's proving to be a little more difficult." "There's finger-pointing going around, talk about whether or not they're gonna leave with anything concrete." "We deal with a systemic risk, which is what climate change poses to the world economy." "How much attention..." "The negotiators are still unable to come up with a text." "So let's keep our fingers crossed." "We could still come out with a deal." "Thank you." "How climate change is affecting your country?" "Well, Maldives is just 1.5 meters above sea level, and, because of climate change and sea level rise, a number of islands are eroding." "And it's not something in the future." "It is something that we are facing right now." "Thank you." "I think I have to go." "¶¶" "Nasheed:" "The Maldives is a stretch of 2,000 tiny islands in the middle of the Indian ocean." "It's a very low-lying country." "We do not have even one hill." "I've traveled the country up and down many, many times." "Even if you live all your life here, you can't fail to be impressed." "Historical evidence suggests that people were living here for thousands of years in equilibrium with the sea." "But things are changing." "The world is getting hotter." "The sea level is rising." "The ability to sustain human life here is very fragile." "If we can't stop the seas rising, global warming will destroy the Maldives." "As a president, it is very clear to me that the most important fight is the fight for our survival." "Nasheed:" "In many eyes, the Maldives is a place to go on holiday..." "Where the very rich and famous come and relax." "This is the height of the good life." "It's, you know, a cross between paradise and paradise." "The beautiful ocean..." "The golden beaches..." "Extremely high-class hotels and resorts." "But most people don't know the history of the Maldives for the last 30 years." "Ironically, it is exactly on these same beaches that most of the torture took place." "Ahmed naseem:" "I've seen people hanging upside-down with coconut honey thrown on them to let the ants come and eat them." "I've seen people buried in the ground and kept for days and days in rain and sun." "I have seen it with my own eyes because I was there for five years." "This is the truth of gayoom's regime." "Nasheed:" "Gayoom ruled for 30 years." "There was no opposition, there were no political parties, there was no freedom of expression, there was no freedom of assembly." "Mohamed aslam:" "The island chiefs... they would insist that there isn't a single ballot which said no to gayoom." "The man got over 90%..." "99% in most cases." "That's incredible." "I mean, even God himself doesn't get 99% approval." "Naseem:" "He was like..." "he was a mafia don." "The first three months, of his presidency, he arrested more than 480 political prisoners." "It was just crazy." "Aminath shauna:" "When we were growing up, the word for "president" was automatically maumoon and no one else..." "no question about it." "We weren't taught about the past presidents." "It was just maumoon who brought the education, it was maumoon who brought tourism into the country." "And that's it." "Nasheed:" "I went to school in england." "In '89, after graduation," "I came back to the Maldives." "By this time, the state had become more and more repressive." "So we decided that it would be good to come up with a magazine." "Nasheed:" "It was talking about two things... corruption and human rights abuse." "It was very critical of the regime." "One night, at about 3:00 in the morning, they came to my house." "They raided my home and took a whole load of papers." "Laila Ali:" "They came in, they took him away." "It was in the middle of the night." "We had heard so many stories of what they were doing in the jails and all that, so it was terrifying, really." "Nasheed:" "I refused to give a confession." "So, because of this," "I was taken a corrugated iron sheet cell." "The whole cell is five feet by three feet." "You had a mat." "That's all." "You can still have a schedule for the day, even if you can't move." "You could go for a walk... in your mind, you could be walking." "If you can walk, if you're not chained, you take four, five steps in the cell, but you could do it millions of times." "You take every second as it comes." "I mean, 18 months was a fairly long time in solitary." "When I was released," "I was very politically motivated." "So how I dedicated my time in trying to introduce democracy, to bring people the power..." "I wanted to form a political party." "Ali:" "With a child, I didn't like that at all." "But I didn't have much choice." "I could have left him, I guess, but..." "He would still have done it." "Nasheed:" "In the last 20 years," "I've been arrested 12 times." "Um..." "I've been tortured twice." "My second child was born while I was in confinement." "I was brought early in the morning to the hospital, and laila had given birth the night before." "I was shown zaaya just once." "I picked her up, and, um... and then I was taken back again." "In September, 2003, a young boy was tortured and beaten to death in jail." "Ali:" "There had been rumors of people being murdered in jail for years." "Normally they hush everything up." "But this was unusual." "The mother had been brave enough to insist that the son not be buried without everyone seeing him." "So the body had been left in the cemetery for public viewing." "Ahmed moosa:" "From his head to his toes, there wasn't any bit that wasn't damaged or bruised or..." "I mean, you could kill somebody, but here you could see that he was really tortured to death." "I've seen it many times..." "the beatings." "I've heard the beatings many times." "I know how you feel when you have... when death is just right around the corner." "When people saw what had happened to the body, that really triggered the democracy movement." "That was the turning point." "That was the turning point." "Nasheed:" "There was rioting in the Maldives." "Paul Roberts:" "I received a call from a friend of mine in the Maldives." "This person was sort of clearly running down the street." "You could hear the thud-thud-thud of the footsteps over the phone." "He's, like, "I've just punched a national security service officer."" "People ramaged through town, smashing anything that symbolizes state." "So police cars were torched." "That's when the government had to announce a state of emergency and control that unrest." "Ali:" "We were scared." "Tanks had been brought out." "We were all wondering what more could happen." "I was veyr afraid for my life." "After having understood what they'd done to that boy," "I knew that they must do the same to me." "They must, if they were to survive and if they were to go on." "So this time, as soon as I was released, I left." "I went into exile." "Newscaster:" "President gayoom has ruled almost unchallenged since 1978." "People that I've spoken to in the Maldives are frightened to talk to me openly." "It's not true." "But they are." "I assure you that's not true." "You're telling me I'm lying?" "I'm not saying you are lying, but you are not well-informed." "We'd been working abroad for quite some time by this time." "But still, it was possible for us to be very, very tightly organized." "And therefore, we were able to exert a fair amount of pressure on the regime." "And in the middle of all this, the Tsunami hit." "Nasheed:" "In 2004, the Tsunami destroyed much of the Maldives." "Entire islands were abandoned." "The Tsunami brought a lot of climate issues home." "It was a very strong reminder of the fragility of human life here." "Roberts:" "The Tsunami wiped out over 50% of g.D.P." "In an hour." "So the regime really needed money." "And the Europeans in particular said," ""we'll give you $100 million,"" "but it was linked to political reform." "Nasheed:" "Gayoom..." "he would only relent as much as he had to at any certain point, but never actually delivered any substantial change." "We had set up the Maldivian Democratic party abroad." "But we had to move forward." "There was no way that we could establish the party in the Maldives without me going there and taking the risks." "Ali:" "We had all thought it was a very bad mistake to come back, that he would be arrested right at the airport." "Nasheed:" "We had to get the reform movement going out on the streets." "Of course, we were peaceful." "But we had to really put pressure on gayoom." "Naseem:" "When this movement started," "I knew that nasheed would be either murdered by gayoom or he would be the president of the maldvies." "Moosa:" "These were acts of defiance and..." "Like baits, and gayoom..." "you know, we got him." "Nasheed:" "The Maldives was looking very much like an occupied country." "Naseem:" "I would be lying if I tell you that I wasn't afraid." "But anni keeps telling us all the time," ""you must get courage from each other." "So stand by together."" "Nasheed:" "Demonstrations were taking place all throughout the country." "There were huge demonstrations in fares-maathodaa, thinadhoo, kinbidhoo, ukulhas... you know, many, many, many islands." "This was spreading like wildfire." "It just finally came to a point that gayoom had to relent, and he had to allow free and fair elections." "Shauna:" "All my friends were talking about democracy, they were debating about it." "Graffiti on walls..." ""vote," "democracy,"" ""no for maumoon," "yes for anni."" "And I said, "wow, things have changed here."" "Naseem:" "We took some opinion polls, and we saw gayoom being the winner, and we were somewhere in third, I think." "And he said to me, "there's still time." ""We still have to run the campaign." "We will have to reach out to the people."" "Nasheed:" "We went into almost every single household, more than 52,000 homes." "Even the most hardened of regime loyalists in the islands... they would listen." "Reporter:" "The president says he needs another term to see through his Democratic reforms." "Um, well, he's already had 30 years, and we really quite can't see how and what else he's going to do with another five years." "Gayoom was so sure he was going to win it." "He even ordered enough fireworks to celebrate it." "I was on my island, trying to get as many votes from there as possible." "We were putting live updates on minivan news website." "I was sitting in an 18th-century pub in Glen coe, in Scotland." "The results start coming around 8:00 in the evening, I think." "Roberts:" "Nasheed was 10% ahead of him." "And I thought, "that's a sizable lead."" "By around 9 P.M., we were so nervous." "I said, "I think he's going to win."" "Aslam:" "Ballot boxes after ballot boxes." "And around 3:00 in the morning, we were absolutely sure that this is going to happen." "At 75% of the votes, the newspaper called the election." ""A win for anni" was the headline." "And at that point, I fell off my stool." "Shauna:" "When the sun started to come, people started to slowly get to the surf point in male... there's this really beautiful song, very traditional, old, that goes way back." "It said, "let's all join our hands and let's go as the nation wishes."" "The main feeling that day was that we had proved them wrong, that we were right all along, you know?" "That we believed in the right thing." "That moment, we knew that we had our country back." "Nasheed:" "When we came to power, we thought we'd won the fight." "After 20 years, we thought, "look, okay, we'll have a happy life."" "But we had our first few cabinet meetings, and most of the pending issues were climate change issues." "Weather patterns are changing, and that's having a very big impact on fisheries." "We have lost a lot of the shoreline." "Our islands are going to be flooded." "I don't understand how it works." "Hello, aslam." "So the position of the Maldives is..." "What was it? "Survival is non-negotiable."" "Right?" "That's the climate change position." "The reason why Maldives is unique is because we're going to lose an entire nation, an identity, a culture, all these things." "Because there are so many other countries... there's Netherlands, there's Nigeria... but none of these countries are going to lose their entire national identity." "We will." "The Maldives have been here for thousands of years because the winds are moving back and forth." "Now, what's happening, especially the last five years, is that the monsoon is shifting earlier, so on this corner, we've seen almost five meters of beachfront lost." "Usually, this monsoon..." "it should shift about, um..." "April, may, right?" "It started shifting this year first week of February." "¶¶" "The President of the Maldives announced this week that his country plans to be the first in the world to go carbon-neutral, meeting all of its energy requirements through renewable sources, such as solar and wind power." "It hopes to complete the transition within a decade." "Nasheed:" "Today I can announce to you and the world that the Maldives will be the first carbon-neutral country in the world." "We hope to be..." "and we have planned... to become carbon-neutral in the next ten years, and we feel that we can achieve this." "Paul, what's the speech?" "What are we doing in england?" "You're doing a keynote speech in parliament, so that gives you a big degree of leeway to almost say whatever you want." "You've got to play to what you feel natural doing." "There was a speech in Sweden, and you stood on the lectern, kind of going like this, and it was kind of having a conversation." "So it's not this scripted speech, but it's sort of a series of anecdotes and points." "Fundamentally, our main, main point is, we do not go according..." "with the pack." "Yeah, and that's why... we talk about whatever has to be said." "Okay." "The other thing is, we want to say," ""if you can't defend the Maldives today, you can't defend england tomorrow."" "Because if you can't save the Maldives, that means we've probably had... it's the domino theory all over again." "It's the Vietnam... and "please come and defend Vietnam."" "We won't put it quite like that, but I get your point." "But even if you don't put it," "I'm going to say it." "Which makes me so nervous." "¶¶" "Mark lynas:" "If I was to summarize the state of the science, it would be that everything is worse than we originally thought." "Sea level rise... way outside what the models projected." "It's much higher." "And this is the real key one here." "These are global emission, and the worst-case scenario was this red line." "And you can see 2005, 2006, 2007, are above the red line." "So, again, in terms of the drivers for climate change and sea level rise, we're way outside what anyone expected." "And most of us tried it in India." "So all of this time that we spent talking, and all of these meetings we have in Copenhagen and everywhere else, the temperature's rising, and I think people forget that." "So the worst-case scenario in sea levels... if you take into account ice sheets and how oceans behave and so on, it's 2 meters by 2,100." "Can you deal with that?" "The two meters we can't survive, no." "Right." "And with carbon dioxide levels at current... you know, 387 parts per million... eventually we'll see 25 meters' sea level rise." "The only way to get the situation turned around, is to get co2 down again." "We need to get back to 350 parts per million." "So we've got to somehow remove the extra co2 from the atmosphere." "You know, this is the problem." "We need to start talking about the solution." "How do we actually the carbon emission down?" "But it's not rocket science, is it?" "If the Maldives can do it in ten years... 100%... why is the rest of the world desperately trying to avoid doing 10% in even 30 years?" "No, because many people in many governments wouldn't actually believe the science." "They wouldn't believe this." "Really?" "No." "We need to just clear the table." "None of it is working." "India and Brazil... they're not agreeing to it." "So, at Copenhagen, when the eyes of the world are on you, you've actually got to do something to really make that moment count." "We need to get India, China and Brazil on our side." "And the U.S." "Well, they're the key drivers of emissions that you can expect." "Indian politicians, or Chinese, or Brazilian politicians... they're not willing to stop opening up power plants." "They like cutting ribbons." "Politicians like that." "And it's going to be very difficult asking them to stop that." "But instead, if we ask them to cut more ribbons... green ribbons." "Green ribbons." "And more of it, twice more... then it might work." "Do you understand what I mean?" "Do you think it's workable?" "Yeah, we just have to show them." "I will go with it to the Indian government." "You can pick up the phone and speak to them?" "Yes, we can pick up the phone and speak to them." "Nasheed:" "Maldives is a frontline state." "If you thought defending Poland and defending Vietnam was important, defending the Maldives is very important." "And when you have millions and millions of people in similar predicaments, just imagine the impact it would have on world order or security." "We know that the Maldives becoming carbon-neutral is not going to stop us from annihilation." "We know that." "But at least we can die knowing that we've done the right thing." "Nasheed:" "We're trying to see if we can qualify for field programs." "Yeah." "Climate change issues are very important." "And also democracy." "And we view climate change in the context of democracy." "Without democracy, you cannot enact." "The former dictatorship wasted $200 million because they gave the contracts to the wrong people." "There are so many governors' issues." "I think, in your peculiar circumstances, where you formed a democracy out of something less pleasant, and you needed a little bit of structural help, it seems to me that we should be helping." "Supporting democracy in an islamic country... what's more important than that?" "That's a fair summary, isn't it?" "Very fair." "And also, we want to see if we can have a better relationship with one of the oppositions in some of the arab countries and see if they want to learn or understand any of the things that we've been able to do." "You're very brave people." "We understand that we are very small, and therefore it has its advantages." "It's difficult to bully us." "You would be seen as a bully." "Yes." "Mr. President, have you seen today's times?" "No, let's have a look." "The headline to it is strong, but the content of the article is all right." "This one down here." "I mean, the war analogy kind of works." "That's a good one." "I agree with that." "Interviewer:" "Can I ask how long you've been president?" "Nasheed:" "Um, well, it's been seven months now." "Seven months, and you had a long struggle to get there." "I think you said you'd spent some time in jail for your political beliefs." "And now you're fighting climate change." "You do like a battle, don't you?" "Well, it won't be any good to have democracy if you don't have a country." "What do you think needs to come out of Copenhagen, if there's any chance of your country's survival?" "There has to be a deal that satisfies both the developed countries and the developing countries." "And yet your language is quite strong on this topic." "Well, it's a human right." "I mean, come on." "We cannot  not talk about our existence as a country." "We've been there for the last 3,000 years." "We have a culture, we have a language, we have a civilization." "But I feel that it can work." "And so therefore I am hopeful that at Copenhagen there will be an understanding makable for everyone." "And if we can't come up with this understanding, then, you know, God help us." "Just in time!" "Zaaya!" "Ohh." "Hello." "Pleasure to meet you." "Nice to meet you." "Thanks so much for participating in this." "It's a pleasure." "We'll stand right..." "Just stand right here." "On the underside of that thing." "Inside his jacket." "You've obviously done this before, Mr. President." "Roll sound." "Roll camera." "Speed." "Marker." "Action." "If we do not act now... when the camera stops moving, then you can start the line of dialogue." "Ready?" "Hold on a second." "If we do not act now... we need it quiet over there, please." "Marker." "Action." "If you do not act now... could you just take a step this way?" "The people are almost clear." "Okay, turn over camera." "You okay?" "Oh, yeah." "Wait one moment." "Roll sound." "Marker." "If we do not act now, my island nation will be submerged by the rising sea." "And cut." "Good one." "¶¶" "Interviewer:" "President nasheed, thank you ver much for this." "So this is your first trip to the U.S.?" "Well, it is." "I have come for a summit of the small island states, and also for the united nations general assembly." "Sometimes in this whole climate change discussion, people find it difficult." "You still must get people who come up to you and say," ""Mr. President, it's a job killer if we go... if we try to limit the co2 that goes into the atmosphere."" "That's not true at all." "It would create more jobs." "What is the plan if, indeed, we can't stop global warming?" "If we can't stop global warming, it's adaptation." "How do we adapt to the new reality?" "Concrete an embankment to protect these islands." "But, mind you, it's not just the Maldives." "It's hundreds of millions of people." "Ultimately, we're talking about New York." "You know, Manhattan is as low as male." "Ladies and gentlemen," "I am delighted, on the 20th anniversary of reformation of the alliance of small island developing states, to welcome you to this historical aosis summit on climate change." "Prime minister, please be very Frank and tell me if I'm wrong." "Is this the document that you really thought it would be?" "Because cost of protection is very crucial for us, and it's very, very expensive." "We can't do it ourselves." "For instance, in the Maldives, the wall around male..." "our capital city... has cost $600 million." "And that's just one island." "And that's just one island." "We have 2,000 islands." "So you're saying the document should focus more on adaptations?" "It should focus more on adaptation, and it should focus more on renewable energy." "It could be a matter of wording." "Certain statements could be changed, you know?" "There must be some time today that we try to insert all that into the document and get it done." "I think we should shake them up a little bit and say, "here's what, actually, people want."" ""Even if it's not a global deal, can we please have an agreement for us?" Yeah, yeah." "It is okay, but we need to have an agreement." "We are hoping that we can have an agreement among ourselves." "So that we can speak in one voice." "We might be able to achieve better... and thank you very much." "Thank you." "We all know that no one is going to do anything with this document." "Prime minister, I understand that a lot of people have been working... all the civil servants have been working for two years." "I understand." "Our people have been doing it." "Our people are not agreeing with me, either." "But if we go with that document, we will hit the wall in Copenhagen." "India, China, Brazil, United States..." "the big emitters... they're not going to go along with that." "I think we have a better chance of getting something out of Copenhagen if we try and shift the focus to doing things instead of asking them not  to do things." "This is a substantial introduction to the text." "If you put it on the table..." "it's not!" "Yes, it is." "Because..." "it's well in line... no, please." "It's well in line with what is already in the arguments in u.N.F.C.C." "¶¶" "Man:" "The world is increasing its emissions today." "This increase could submerge several small island states." "But the entire world needs to join in this effort... if we do not act on time, all of us would become leaders and citizens of failed states." "Good morning, minister." "Good afternoon, ma'am." "The recognition that the threat from climate change is serious, it is urgent, and it is growing." "Nasheed:" "Distinguished delegates, yesterday, at the aosis summit, we asked the major emitters to agree to produce enough clean energy to attain the targets of limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degree celsius and 350 p.P.M. Of carbon concentration." "The threats posed to the Maldives from climate change are well-known." "Weather events will make it harder and harder to govern the country until a point reaches when we must consider abandoning our homeland." "We in the Maldives desperately want to believe that one day our words will have an effect, and so we continue to shout them, even though, deep down, we know that..." "You're not really listening." "Nasheed:" "You know, there is impending disaster." "Everyone knows this now, and then they still talk about very many other issues, like, you know, for instance, the arab-Israel conflict." "I just feel that what is the point of having a conflict when we're all going to die anyway?" "It is tiring." "It is exhausting." "But you go on and on and on, and I have been going on and on and on for quite a while." "Newscaster:" "The president of Maldives made a splash by holding the first underwater cabinet meeting of the world to draw attention to the issue of climate change." "The Maldives could become the world's first country of environmental refugees." "Something unusual was taking place." "The president of the Maldives made a call to the world to reduce carbon in the atmosphere to much safer levels... 350 parts per million, compared with today's 387." "The president says if these reductions aren't made, his whole country risks going underwater." "Nasheed:" "We are trying to send them a message, let the world know what will happen to the Maldives if climate change is not checked." "This is a challenging situation, and we would like to see that people actually do something about it." "We would like to appoint you as our adviser on climate change." "I'm extremely grateful and thankful for the work that you have done so far, and we hope that we can continue with the work." "Thank you very much." "Thank you, delighted." "I think we should look at the cameras." "You do need to tell me how to do this, because it's not every day..." "Thank you." "We've got, um... you would have heard falcon energy and general electric are working on a wind farm, and they have a backup gas plant." "Yes." "Those are wind turbines I'm happy about." "There's absolutely reductions, major reductions." "But the point is, burning natural gas, even as a backup, it's still a fossil fuel, and to go properly carbon-neutral, you'll have to switch it off in 2019." "No, we can't choose." "We are not in that position, and we are only... you know, my feeling is, if you don't take up the wind turbines now with them, none of these investors would come to us." "All I mean is that the whole carbon-neutral thing... your policy is completely riding on this, that there's no sort of subtext to it, there's nothing which people can expose and say this is a sham or a piece of paper." "This is an extremely audacious strategy." "And just imagine how that could be." "You could be there at Copenhagen as the voice of the most vulnerable developing country in the world." "And I think this is why the Indians will be not happy about the strategy that you've been developing." "I've mentioned this to India, that you should not be not happy." "We are not stopping anything going into India, are we?" "No, but India's strategy is that," ""we have a God-given right to high carbon development," ""just as you've had in the U.S.," ""and if we're going to give up this right, you'd better pay us a lot of money."" "And what you said is, "we will give up this right to high carbon development" ""because it's the right thing to do and because we believe in green growth."" "But that completely undercuts their position." "Interviewer:" "You sort of made quite a splash..." "pun unintended... when you had the world's first underwater cabinet meeting." "In India, the consensus so far seems to be that the onus is on the developed industrialized part of the world to cut down on carbon emissions first." "Do you share that, as an emerging country, as a developing economy?" "Gandhi once said, "an eye for an eye will make the whole world go blind,"" "and I don't think this is India saying this." "We want to see India rise to the occasion and save the world, and I have no one else to turn to." "And I don't believe that anyone else has the moral authority to do that." "India has taken on the mighty British empire empty-handed and have been able to win it and, with it, the freedom of the rest of the world." "The problem that we find, excellency, in these negotiations is that somehow or other there is an impression created that we are the problem..." "You know, which is rather strange because our per capita emissions are very low." "They are 1/20 that of the United States." "So why should there be a focus on... as if, you know, it is India which is standing in the way?" "India is not the problem." "But that is the problem." "You're taking ownership of India." "The scientists that you're talking about who knows all this, they're all... excellency, we are not, for a moment, questioning their judgment." "As I said, why don't you join hands together with us to deliver the kind of response that we need?" "But that response needs to be based on some principle of equity." "You cannot say, "I will stay where I am" ""because I got here first, and you stay where you are because you are a latecomer."" "How can I... can you sell it in your country?" "I cannot sell it in my country, either." "If we reduce our emissions from 1.1 ton per capita to 0.5 tons per capita, would the problem be solved?" "We understand what India is saying." "But India needs to come out and become the champion." "What I sometimes feel now is, what kind of an impact would that have in the United States government?" "Yes, but look at the climate bill which is before the senate." "Would you..." "I mean, let us be honest... if you look at that bill, would you come to the conclusion that the United States believes that we are near the end of the world?" "No, they don't." "No, they don't." "So why is the end of the world only for us?" "I mean, there's one world." "Yeah, the thing is, you see, because they don't believe in the end of the world doesn't..." "I can only control myself." "I cannot control the United States or Europe." "I can only try and pursue it." "I cannot send an army to the United States and say, "unless you do this or that, we will... we will attack you or attack Europe."" "Sorry, I have to interrupt." "We need to get him out there soon." "Roberts:" "This is going to be a five-minute interview, live on the BBC world service." "I think just..." "let's stay positive, just like yesterday..." "nice and slow." "Okay." "I'll just pass you that." "Hello, this is aslam." "Thank you." "Not really, not angry, but a bit frustrated." "You ask me what's gone wrong, but what was ever right?" "I don't know what was ever right." "We've been talking about this for the past decade, and nothing substantial has happened, really." "What we really don't want to happen is people going there and coming out and thinking," ""okay, we've achieved something,"" "and, in reality, nothing has been achieved." "Everybody is to lose with this..." "I don't even like the term "negotiation"" "when we have to deal with climate change, because there is really nothing to negotiate with climate." "Hello, very good, Kevin." "How are you?" "Yes." "Yeah, yeah." "So I could really talk to the Indian prime minister, and I'm fairly confident about India." "But with China, they don't need an agreement, they don't need any of these things, actually." "Um, but we go." "So they can't be spoiling for us." "Okay, and please send me that text, and I'll see you on the 13th... or 14th, rather." "¶¶" "Man:" "We'll hear from president mohamed nasheed in a few minutes." "I'm told that he's on his way here." "Ladies and gentlemen, mohamed nasheed... the president of the Maldives." "Nasheed:" "Um, thank you." "Four years ago, I sat in solitary confinement." "But, in spite of the odds, we refused to give up hope." "We won our battle for democracy in the Maldives." "A year later, there those who tell us that solving climate change is impossible." "Well, I am here to tell you that we refuse to give up hope." "My message to you is, continue the protest, continue despite the odds, and eventually, together we will reach that crucial number... 350." "350. 350." "All: 350!" "350!" "And thank you!" "Reporter:" "What is your demand?" "What are you demanding here?" "We want to survive, and we have to have an arrangement to survive." "Newscasters:" "Presidents, prime ministers and leading activists are arriving in Copenhagen for a latch-ditch attempt to cut carbon dioxide emissions." "And with time running out, they remain deadlocked over money and gases." "We've put in the language" ""thinking year of 2015,"" "which is what we need to achieve 1.5 and 350." "The 350 and that are really our two absolutely crucial points." "I've been meaning to put that in." "Yes." "So we've given them the language." "We're trying to make it easy and trying to be a cooperative party, where they can then use this as the negotiating text from now on." "Shall I put you around here?" "We need to have "350" somewhere in the draft document." "Um..." "But it is not there right now." "I think, with 130-plus leaders coming, people don't want failure, so something has to be pushed forward." "President nasheed, we have hundreds of millions of Chinese viewers getting to know Maldives, but are you aware that there are people out there saying that global warming is a conspiracy and certain countries..." "particularly Maldives... is the number-one beneficiary?" "Of course, there are people who doesn't believe that the world is round." "There are people who still don't believe that man has landed on the moon." "So a few skeptics saying these things will not change the reality of any fact." "Don't you think, at this very particular moment, it's up to U.S. politicans and statesmen to decide and determine the final outcome of this conference?" "Because China has already committed... what China has committed is not enough to save us." "We would want China to commit more." "It's not only up to the U.S." "It's up to the Chinese as much as the U.S. government." "Climate justice now!" "Climate justice now!" "Climate justice now!" "Mr. President, I just want to thank you for what you're doing here." "Thank you so much." "Good luck." "Mr. President, your proposal on the table has been rebuffed by China and India, and scientists at the same time are already saying it may already be impossible to keep global temperatures down to 1.5 degrees celcius because of the carbon that's already in the atmosphere." "So could it be counter-productive, this proposal on the table?" "You know, it's politics, and we all have to be ready to negotiate." "There's a lot of discussion about what options are on the table if this conference doesn't achieve its goals and sea levels rise... what are the plans for the Maldives?" "None." "We will all die." "Newscaster:" "The talks nearly did collapse over and over." "There were attempts to change the text to reflect small island states' demands that temperature rises be kept at 1.5 degrees celsius because the preferred two degrees would see them underwater." "But China blocked the change." "Nasheed:" "Well, I'm hoping that tonight would be a very happy evening." "I don't know see that happening." "And it's simply madness of China and India not to take it up." "It is simply madness." "I don't think this has actually anything to do with their capability, either." "They are quite capable of doing it." "They're probably more capable than some of the developed countries to actually do this." "Just because the west has pumped so much poisonous gas up into the atmosphere, that doesn't mean that we have to do it again." "We can lose many, many battles, but we cannot lose the war." "Newscaster:" "Hundreds of protesters were arrested yesterday." "They are demanding a global agreement on reducing greenhouse gases, but they may end up disappointed." "The talks are not going well..." "China reportedly saying that it sees no hope for a deal this week." "The g77 group of developing countries led a walkout on Monday." "There are a lot of signs pointing to the fact that this may not happen." "Officials who have been directly involved in the negotiations say it's deadlocked." "Very disappointing." "Hello, Mr. President." "How are you?" "I'm all right." "Thank you very much for asking." "Um, now, what I understand is, what countries are offering is short of what we are expecting." "The crucial thing is that we've lost "350" from the text already, and if we sacrifice "350" now, then we're kissing good-bye to the coral reefs." "And if we don't get that language back now, then it's gone, probably forever." "And by "ever", I don't mean the rest of this week," "I mean for the rest of this century." "No, if we're gonna, um..." "Relent a little bit on "350"" "and come out and see how we can have a concrete... um, another clean agreement which moves on to "350" at some point." "Mr. President, you don't want... you've said... and you mean this, I presume... you don't want to sign a national suicide note." "We have to consider what that actually means..." "I mean, what the numbers need to be in order not to sign away the future of your country." "Let me ask you... if we walk out, do we get it?" "No." "Then..." "I think the strong public statements we've made in the past, which are, you know, the positions that we seek for our survival... they should remain as it is." "Yeah, but we need a deal in Copenhagen." "We need to come out with a deal." "And I feel that Maldives can be instrumental in getting a deal... no, no." "Sorry, president." "You shouldn't not lower the ambitions on 11/2 degrees, because that is what we have been saying... we hold on to these 11/2 degrees and 350." "Then what?" "If we come out from here without some form of an understanding," "I fear that this whole thing can be dragged on and on for a very long time without any understanding." "Good morning, sir." "From the e.U. Side, their plan is for emission reductions." "They're going for 20%." "They should go for 30." "If they say they're going for 30, it's going to put more pressure on the Chinese." "How are you?" "Sorry, I was on a phone call." "No, no, it's okay." "If heads of state can come up with a text," "I just hope that it can be done." "How are you?" "How are you?" "Okay." "This is crunch time." "The head of the U.S. delegation says progress is being made, but there is still a long way to go, and time is running out." "We are not going to leave Copenhagen with a legally-binding agreement." "What I'm hoping for is to have an understanding on the core values of these things, and then have a number of layers, and as you peel, then one day you will reach that." "China's the only party at these talks that doesn't want to deal, probably." "It's really between China in the U.S." "This is the first time I've been to one of these meetings where the U.S. actually wants to deal." "Obama can't walk out of here empty-handed." "We have another issue we wanted to flag... the meeting with the Chinese premier." "You know what they're planning to do, so you walk in, being very intransigent on climate change, it makes you sort of China's puppet." "They allow the press to come in." "The Chinese premier says three things, you're not allowed to say anything." "The press leave." "They lock..." "let them do that." "I will be their puppet." "It's better to be their puppet... seen to be their puppet... than the Americans and Australians and British." "We have to be seen that we have the reach to China, that we have the reach to everybody." "Your message is that you're trying bring the world together, to save the talks from collapse by communicating between these different intransigent parties." "We need to talk about substance." "Absolutely." "¶¶" "President nasheed, from BBC news." "What do you make of what's happening?" "You think you'll hit a deal that you think is worthwhile?" "Are we gonna have an agreement?" "Do you think you've failed, though, on the big question?" "I don't think we will fail." "Watch out." "Excuse us." "Newscaster:" "The latest is it's changing every minute... fluid at best, some would say in disarray." "The moment president Obama arrived here, he went immediately to an unscheduled meeting with more than 16 world leaders... many here believe to rescue some agreement." "So, frantic efforts underway, but still very much in doubt as to what they'll accomplish." "Okay, I ask for a little bit of patience." "Obviously, we can't determine exactly that meeting is finishing." "We can still see failure, but we need to prepare for success, because nasheed has been on the inside of this." "He's one of about 15 or 20 world leaders at this point the collapse of these talks would be an absolute disaster." "Newscaster:" "It was always going to be difficult to get 192 nations to sign up to a single agreement." "Some leaders here say these are the toughest negotiations they have ever been involved." "Are as wide as ever." "I understand that the meeting has just broken up that's been taking place between about 30 world leaders, and I gather that the real problem is relations between China and the United States." "When do we get to see the text?" "Give the text to mark." "Let me see the numbers." "2015." "The 2015 number is here." "There's the 2015 number." "So the text is, I think, okay." "It's just that no one agrees on the text." "There's... there's a broad agreement among the group now, I think." "But there's no agreement with China, so I think we'll have to sign this without China." "The Chinese will not let themselves be isolated, right?" "No, they'll try to get a block of g77 with them." "The whole world thinks America's blocking this." "Yeah, but no." "These press are idiots." "They've got this 20-year-old postcolonial mentality." "India's really funny." "It's moving from here to here, and it has no sense..." "India will eventually be on the right side." "India's hiding behind China, letting them do the talking." "I think initially the idea in India was to be a Canada, to completely hide from everything." "But they couldn't." "Oh, my goodness." "But I think most people would sign." "Bangladesh would sign." "So India's the key one there." "Does India go with China or with everyone else?" "India goes with Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan." "Really?" "Yeah." "A half-hour ago, we were told there's no deal." "All that came from you." "It did." "And now everything's turned around." "It turns around every ten minutes." "I thought it was just us outside, but it turns out it's inside the room as well." "We're now resuming the 12th meeting of the c.M.P." "Point of order, Mr. President... there is simply no consensus about this document." "We are not going to recognize." "We don't want to discuss it." "Thank you." "Mr. Prime minister, this document is one of the most disturbing developments in this history of the u.N.F.C.C.C." "We do ask you to withdraw this document." "Mr. Chairman, this is just one instance when Maldives is asking our friends, our developing country friends, to help us." "Please accept this decision, and please keep this document alive." "We need this document for us to go on." "There are many countries who need this document." "It has many lifelines." "And please, I would like to make this plea from the bottom of my heart to my fellow friends from the developing countries to accept this document and to adopt this decision." "Thank you very much." "Mr. President, I just want you to know that Australia will keep trying." "We are not going to ignore the pleas of the president of the Maldives." "Thank you." "Mr. Chairman, as the prime minister of the Maldives has said," "I think an action postponed is not in the interest of people who will be affected by climate change." "So we fully back the document that is behind us." "On the basis of extensive consultation with parties," "I will read out to you a draft decision." "The conference of the parties decides to take note of the Copenhagen accord of the 18th of December, 2009." "I hear no objections." "So decided." "Newscaster:" "There was high drama in Copenhagen today where, at the 11th hour, an agreement on global warming was hammered out." "The deal done among 25 rich and poor nations, pledging to work together to fight climate change." "World leaders reach an agreement on climate change." "The agreement calls for a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by all nations." "Calls for a reduction, but doesn't require a reduction." "My good friend mohamed nasheed is actually the hero of tonight." "I can tell you this truly because people was blocking it." "And then mohamed nasheed made a very strong intervention, and at the very end, we were successful." "I don't think anyone's making and pretense about this, but this has all been done to try and salvage some kind of climate, um... some kind of climate regime out of this whole process." "The Chinese wanted to leave here with nothing, and they never nearly got there." "But the point of this is that we've still got some process alive." "And there were parties in that room who didn't want that to happen, and you know who they are." "I understand that this is not a complete binding document, but it has features that it can migrate to become a very good planet-saving document." "¶¶" "Nasheed:" "We worked very hard for a deal in Copenhagen." "But in hindsight, coming back to the Maldives, you realize how impossible the whole thing is." "We're having to spend less on health care, less on education, and then use that money on concrete and sea walls." "Good morning." "But we're trying to bring change, we're trying to make a difference." "My generation will live on to die on these islands." "To see that my grandfather lies peacefully is a wonderful feeling." "I definitely don't want to see his grave being washed away." "This is us being humans." "We have a connection to the past, and we have a hope for the future." "I don't want my children to lose that." "Ali:" "I really feel for my children's future." "I sometimes wish I had not had children, that this is a world not fit to bring them into, really." "I'm much more of a pessimist than my husband." "He always finds a positive angle to everything, always." "Nasheed:" "We had to bring democracy to the Maldives because I didn't want my children to be in solitary confinement." "Neither should they have to be environment refugees." "We just can't disappear." "We just can't." "We have to survive, and we have to do whatever it takes to make that real." "¶ That there ¶" "¶ that's not me ¶" "¶ I go ¶" "¶ where I please ¶" "¶ I walk through walls ¶" "¶ I float down the liffey ¶" "¶ I'm not here ¶" "¶ this isn't happening ¶" "¶ I'm not here ¶" "¶ I'm not here ¶" "¶ in a little while ¶" "¶ I'll be gone ¶" "¶ the moment's already passed ¶" "¶ yeah, it's gone ¶" "¶ and I'm not here ¶" "¶ this isn't happening ¶" "¶ I'm not here ¶" "¶ I'm not here ¶" "¶ strobe lights ¶" "¶ and blown speakers ¶" "¶ fireworks ¶" "¶ and hurricanes ¶" "¶ I'm not here ¶" "¶ this isn't happening ¶" "¶ I'm not here ¶" "¶ I'm not here ¶"