OpEd: World Environmental Day: For island states, both communities and the ocean must be protected from the climate emergency

World Environment Day is celebrated every year on 5 June and represents a global effort to raise awareness and encourage action for the environment. Here in the Maldives, this is an opportunity to reflect on our accomplishments and renew our resolve to overcome the many challenges that threaten our environment and our island communities today.

Maldives is acutely vulnerable to the climate crisis, its low-lying islands are directly threatened by sea-level rise and exposed to the increased climate-affected weather conditions, storms and flooding that Maldives communities are experiencing now. What happens to the Maldives because of the human-induced global climate emergency is also the fate of the world; more than just the Maldives’ fight for survival, the lessons learned, and the methods applied in this small island state will be of use for all countries and states, big and small, facing a common global heating threat.

The Government of the Maldives has been working to address and adapt to the challenges of the climate crisis as they affect the people and ocean-side communities of Maldives, people who seek better lives and the opportunity to offer their families and children better homes, livelihoods and lifestyles that have come before. The United Nations is a steady partner in the government’s efforts to make a better world possible.