STARK WARNING FROM MALDIVES ENVIRONMENT MINISTER - CLIMATE CHANGE ABOVE INTERNATIONALLY AGREED THRESHOLD IS ''DEATH SENTENCE'' FOR LOW-LYING NATIONS

The Maldives Environment Minister has issued a stark warning that climate change is a “death sentence” for the Indian Island nation and other small island states

 

STORY: CLIMATE CRISIS DEATH SENTENCE.
HEADLINE: STARK WARNING FROM MALDIVES ENVIRONMENT MINISTER - CLIMATE CHANGE ABOVE INTERNATIONALLY AGREED THRESHOLD IS “DEATH SENTENCE” FOR LOW-LYING NATIONS.
NEWSROOM READY VERSION
DURATION: 3.33
SOURCE: NEKTON
RESTRICTIONS: FREE ACCESS ALL PLATFORMS IN PERPETUITY/NO ARCHIVE RESALES. MANDATORY ON SCREEN CREDIT: “ COURTESY OF NEKTON”

STORYLINE – Newsroom Ready

The Maldives Environment Minister has issued a stark warning that climate change is a “death sentence” for the Indian Island nation and other small island states if global warming rises beyond the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold set by the international community in 2015.

Shauna Aminath was speaking as a multinational science team from the UK-based Nekton Mission and their Maldivian counterparts embark on a 35-day expedition to assess the health of the seas surrounding what is the world’s lowest-lying country.


SHOTLIST
1. SOUNDBITE SHAUNA AMINATH (ENGLISH): “The difference between 1.5 and two degrees for Maldives and for many small island states is a death sentence. So there's nothing more important for us as as a civilisation to address. Climate change is our biggest, single most challenging issue of our generation. And we are also the last generation to be able to make a difference”
2. Cutaway minister’s hands
3. SOUNDBITE SHAUNA AMINATH (ENGLISH): “The problem is not the lack of technology, the problem is not the lack of finance, the problem is a lack of political will. And that's why I think we need political leaders to make a bold decision to address this issue, which is very real.”
4. Two-shot minister and interviewer
5. SOUNDBITE SHAUNA AMINATH (ENGLISH): “Impacts of climate change is something that we live every day in our lives. The severity of storms in the Maldives have increased, almost every island is experiencing severe erosion. Every island in the Maldives have run out of freshwater, coastal inundation, flooding is increasingly becoming a development problem for the Maldives.”
6. Drone aerial Fulhhadhoo Island,Maldives
7. SOUNDBITE SHAUNA AMINATH (ENGLISH): “This is not just a problem for small islands anymore, this is our problem now. We are all going to be affected by this, we're all in the same boat.”
8. Tilt up minister’s hands to face
9. Drone track down Fuvahmulah Island, Maldives, coastline to plastic garbage mountain.
10. Plastic bottle washed up on Fuvahmulah beach, Maldives
11. SOUNDBITE SHAUNA AMINATH (ENGLISH): “Because of the impacts of climate change, like I said, before every island has run out of water. So that means we have depended on plastic bottles to supply fresh water for the islands, that now has become a big problem for us managing that waste is something that we have not been able to sustainably find a solution. The other problem is the issue of marine litter. A lot of the plastic that ends up on our beaches probably did not come from our country. And this is an issue that we need to deal with at an international level, which is why I'm very excited about the treaty, the global treaty to phase out plastics. But at a national level, there's a lot that we can do, no we didn't cause the climate crisis, no we didn't cause the plastic crisis either. But there's still a lot that we can do. We are about half a million people in the Maldives. And we are taking bold steps to phase out single use plastics.”
12. Cutaway minister’s hands
13. SOUNDBITE SHAUNA AMINATH (ENGLISH): “We have also banned production of single use plastics in the Maldives. So by combining these two policies together, we intend to phase out single use plastics by the end of next year.”

 

CONSUMER  READY VERSION
DURATION 1.30
SOURCE NEKTON
RESTRICTIONS - FREE ACCESS ALL PLATFORMS IN PERPETUITY/NO ARCHIVE RESALES

3 VERSIONS: 16:9, 1:1, 9:16 – Available at www.apmultimedianewsroom.com/nekton

STORYLINE/SOCIAL POST – Consumer Ready

The Maldives Environment Minister has issued a stark warning that climate change is a “death sentence” for the Indian Island nation and other small island states if global warming rises beyond the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold set by the international community in 2015.

Shauna Aminath was speaking as a multinational science team from the UK-based Nekton Mission and their Maldivian counterparts embark on a 35-day expedition to assess the health of the seas surrounding what is the world’s lowest lying country.

To download the media briefing in full, please click through on the link below:

Media Briefing

6 September 2022