President calls on world leaders to act now

The president, who followed US President Barack Obama in speaking order, said from his observations, once the dust of the rhetoric had settled at climate change conferences, “sympathy fades, indignation cools, and the world carries on as before.”

“We in the Maldives desperately want to believe that one day our words will have an effect, and so we continue to shout them even though, deep down, we know that you are not really listening,” he said.

Nasheed said developed countries must acknowledge their historic responsibility for global warming and accept emission reduction targets consistent with an average temperature increase below 1.5 degrees celsius.