The cabinet were joined by instructors and military escorts
President Mohamed Nasheed and his cabinet signed a document calling for global cuts in carbon emissions.
Ministers spent half an hour on the sea bed and communicated with white boards and hand signals.
Officials from the low-lying island nation say the dive is "a bit of fun", intended to send a serious message.
The Maldives stand an average of 2.1 metres (7ft) above sea level, and the government says they face being wiped out if oceans rise.
Military minders
Three of the 14 cabinet ministers missed the underwater meeting because two were not given medical permission and another was abroad, officials said.
President Nasheed and other cabinet members taking part had been practising their slow breathing to get into the right mental frame for the meeting, a government source said.
On Friday, ministers carried out practice dives off the island of Girifushi, about 20 minutes by boat from the capital, Male.
About 5m underwater, in a blue-green lagoon on a small island used for military training, they were observed by a clutch of snorkelling journalists.
Each minister was accompanied by a diving instructor and a military minder.
While underwater, they signed a document ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December, calling on all nations to cut their carbon emissions.
World leaders at the summit aim to create a new agreement to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.
Related Article:
0 comments:
Post a Comment