In an article by Speaker of the Parliament former President Mohamed Nasheed published on Newsweek, he claimed that 50% of the $2.5 billion annual budget on adapting to climate change. Unfortunately, the statement is untrue and misleading. The first question that comes to my mind is, why did the former President Mohamed Nasheed mislead on a serious issue such as climate change? Undeniably, climate change poses an existential threat to the Maldives and humankind. But does that justify misleading the millions of people that look up to the former President as a symbol of hope and resilience against climate change?

Climate change is real, and it is happening. But for some nations, the threat from climate change is far greater and more than it is to others. In the case of Maldives, the threat we face is immediate and irreparable and existential on the long run.

The immediate threats faced by the world’s nations due to climate change widely vary. For the U.S, unpredictable and repeated fierce storms over the past three decades have caused trillions of U.S. dollars’ worth damages. For the Maldives, the most immediate threat is the adverse effects of the rising global temperatures on our waters.

The global mean temperature has risen by 0.08^o C every decade since 1880 and the rate has increased to 0.18^o C every decade since 1981. This would mean that compared to just 142 years ago, the global mean temperature has increased by 1.52^oC. To put this into context, the world was on average 1.52^oC cooler when our great grandparents were in their youth.

The rise in global temperatures pose an immediate threat to the Maldives, in that the resulting rise in oceanic temperatures will result in devastating effects on marine ecosystem. As warmer waters hold less oxygen, it is predicted that more and more fish will migrate away from the equator, and those that remain would gradually reduce in ass due to low oxygen levels. According to Karin Limburg, professor at the State University of New York’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry, the fish sizer across the whole globe is set to reduce by 10%. Additionally, the rising temperatures also lead to a decline in phytoplankton, further straining the fish stock across oceans.

On a long run, the rising sea levels due to climate change is set to pose an existential threat to the Maldives as the majority of the islands have an average elevation of 1.5m above sea levels. It is estimated that within the lifetime of our children, the global sea level will rise as much as 2m above the current sea levels, which would make the entirety of the Maldivian population climate refugees.

So, what has the Maldives done about this?

Since the 1980 the Maldivian government has taken a proactive stance in addressing climate change, raising awareness internally and advocating for it on the international community. The underwater cabinet meeting held in 2009 by former President Mohamed Nasheed symbolically showed the world what waits for the Maldives unless the whole world takes immediate concrete action against climate change.

This brings is to the next question, how much is the Government of Maldives investing in the fight against climate change? As mentioned, in an article by Speaker of the Parliament former President Mohamed Nasheed published on Newsweek, he claimed that 50% of the $2.5 billion annual budget on adapting to climate change.

This was found to be misleading and untrue as the budget earmarked to adapt climate change is far less than 50% of the $2.5 billion annual budget.

According to the Ministry of Finance, in 2022 $100,064,850.84 or 4% of the annual budget is allocated for projects related to adaptation to climate change. However, the real number is even still smaller as the $100,064,850.84 also include $62,775,616.08 earmarked for some infrastructure development projects. This would mean that the actual budget earmarked for climate adaptation is $37,289,234.76 or 0.14% of the annual budget.

So why did the former President Mohamed Nasheed claim that 50% of the annual budget was earmarked for projects related to adaptation to climate change? One analyst theorized that it was a stunt meant to construct the first stepping stone in requesting foreign aid from various nations and organizations. By claiming that the Maldives had exhausted their budget fighting against climate change for which larger economics have been widely responsible for, the Government of Maldives could potentially stand to gain considerable aid from the larger economies.