Underwater Cabinet Meeting in Maldives

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The president of the Maldives, Mohammed Nasheed, signs a document calling on all countries to cut down their carbon dioxide emissions ahead of a major U.N. climate change conference in December in Copenhagen, in Girifushi, about 20 minutes by speedboat from the capital Male, Maldives, October 17, 2009. Government ministers in scuba gear held an underwater meeting of the Maldives' Cabinet to highlight the threat global warming poses to the lowest-lying nation on earth. About 80% of the Maldives are only a meter above sea level, and a UN study on climate change has warned that the country could become submerged by the beginning of the next century. Nasheed led Saturday's meeting around a table on the sea floor, 20 feet (6 meters) below the surface, with ministers communicating using white boards and hand signals. (AP Photo/Mohammed Seeneen)