Climate change threatens human rights: small island states

By Ajay Makan

MALE (Reuters) - Representatives of 26 of the world's small island states met in the Maldives capital Male on Tuesday to draft a resolution identifying climate change as a threat to human rights.

The Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), concerned about rising sea levels, wants to present the resolution at a U.N. climate change conference in Bali next month.

"It is time to put people back at the heart of climate change diplomacy," Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom told the conference.

Ministers and diplomats met at an exclusive Maldives resort, one of more than 80 that underpin the Indian Ocean state's $1 billion economy but are directly threatened by rising sea levels.

Delegates are expected to agree a declaration that climate change threatens the fundamental right to a safe, secure and sustainable environment, forcing developed countries to view rising seas through the prism of human rights.

Gayoom, Asia's longest serving ruler after 30 years in power, has repeatedly raised the specter of climate change on international platforms, warning the U.N. Security Council of the potential "death of a nation" in 1987.

The Maldives' 1,200 coral islands sit less than 2 meters (yards) above sea level and are threatened with inundation if sea levels rise 59 cm (23 inches) by 2100 as predicted by the U.N. climate panel.

It would cost an estimated $1.5 billion to provide sea defenses for the country's deluxe $1,000-a-night resorts.

The conference brings together officials from countries including Singapore, Micronesia, Grenada and the Seychelles, as well as environmental lawyers.

Delegates are also expected to hammer out a portfolio of practical policies to counter climate change, with an emphasis on emissions reduction, rather than carbon trading.

(Editing by Jeremy Laurence)