President Mohammed Nasheed of the Maldives — the thousand-island nation that may become uninhabitable this century from rising sea levels due to climate change — is planning to levy a climate tax on tourists visiting the tiny Indian Ocean archipelago. The daily $3 surcharge will help fund renewable energy projects that will make the Maldives the world’s first carbon-neutral nation. President Nasheed also wants to set aside a relocation fund for the 309,000 residents who will be forced to move to places like Australia and New Zealand as rising waters cover the 200 inhabited islands. (Source: New York Times, September 8, 2009).
Contact: Mohamed Nasheed, President, Republic of the Maldives, +960 332-3701, [email protected], www.presidencymaldives.gov.mv.
