A specialist on sea-levels writes

Please read this article in The Spectator that points out the absurdity of the recent press friendly Maldives government underwater meeting.

Nils-Axel Mörner is a former lead reviewer for the IPCC and was head of Geodynamics at Stockholm University until his retirement in 2005. Oddly he has written three times previously to the Maldives government and not received a reply hence this open letter. Here's a few extracts:

"The people of the Maldives had no problems surviving the 17th century, which was 50cm higher than now. Nor the last century, where it rose by 20cm. This bodes well for their prospects of surviving the next change.

...

Neither of those levels would pose any real problem — simply a return to the situation in the 17th and the 19th to early 20th centuries, respectively.

So why the scare-mongering? Could it be because there is money involved? If you inhabit a tiny island and can convince the world that its very existence is under threat because of the polluting policies of the West, the industrialised nations will certainly respond. The money is likely to flow in more quickly than the ocean will rise."

I seem to remember the BBC splashing footage of the underwater cabinet meeting over their website and TV news; I wonder if they will give equal coverage to this letter... I think we know they won't.