The Maldives will still attend The Copenhagen Climate Exchange

The Maldives will not be attending the COP15 in Copenhagen. But at The Copenhagen Climate Exchange the Maldives will be represented by a member of the President’s Council of Climate Change and by the Director of the environmental organization Bluepeace.

Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed will not be attending landmark UN climate talks in Copenhagen in December. The reason is a national budget crisis caused by excess government spending and dropping tourist numbers.

- We will engage with Copenhagen as much as possible without the president traveling there, presidential spokesman Mohamed Zuhair said, according to Reuters.
However, the Maldives, which is an ardent advocate of mitigating climate change, will still have spokesmen in Denmark in relation to the UN climate talks. At the Copenhagen Climate Exchange, which will take place in the run-up to the UN climate conference in December, two Maldivians will attend. One of them is Dr Simad Saeed, who is a member of the President's Council on Climate Change.

He has worked in the area of climate change since 1995 and contributed to the negotiations for the Kyoto Protocol from 1995 to 1997.
- I would like to contribute to the fair by presenting information about the 'Maldives 2020 Carbon Neutrality Goal' and the plans set out to achieve the goal. I would particularly highlight the experiences so far from the tourism sector of the Maldives to show that the goal is realistic and achievable. Sharing of the Maldives experience with other developing countries would prove highly useful for advocacy on the climate change and sustainable development link, Simad Saeed says.

The other Maldivian at the Copenhagen Climate Exchange is Ali Rilwan, the executive director and co-fonder of the non-governmental organization Bluepeace, which’s aim is to protect the environment through environmental education and training. Ali Rilwan will share his experience on different climate campaigns: Save the groupers campaign, save marine turtles campaign and save sea birds campaign.
The two representatives from the Maldives are sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.

Facts:
The Copenhagen Climate Exchange is a climate fair for the people, arranged by the Danish Society for Nature Conservation. Any innovative businesses, cities and organizations have been able to reserve a booth and to put their climate solutions on display.

Time: 3-6 December 2009
Place: Øksnehallen, Copenhagen, Denmark

Read more about the Copenhagen Climate Exchange at www.cphco2009.dk 

Additional information:
Rikke Lundsgaard, Project Manager for the Copenhagen Climate Exchange, tel. 2320 3007, email: rl@dn.dk 

Mr. Ali Rilwan, Executive Director at BluepeaceMaldives, email: bluepeace.maldives@gmail www.bluepeacemaldives.org

Simad Saeed, Managing Director, Member of the President's Council on Climate Change, Maldives, email: simad.saeed@gmail.com