Maldives - dishonest rent seekers

Our esteemed media has been flogging this story about the Maldives’ underwater Cabinet meeting to highlight the phony AGW threat of rising sea levels. No doubt it’s all part of the ramping up of alarmism leading up to the December Copenhagen conference.

But today an expert on sea level measurement sets the record straight:

Open Letter
October 20, 2009
To: President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives
From: Nils-Axel Morner, Stockholm, Sweden

... In 2001, when our research group found overwhelming evidence that sea level was by no means in a rising mode in the Maldives, but had remained quite stable for the last 30 years. ... I announced this happy news during an interview for your local TV station. However, your predecessor as president censored and stopped the broadcast....

... I have written to you twice without reply. Your people ought not to have to suffer a constant claim that there is no future for them on their own islands. This terrible message is deeply inappropriate, ...

... Let me summarize a few facts.
(1) In the last 2000 years, sea level has oscillated with 5 peaks reaching 0.6 to 1.2 m above the present sea level.
(2) From 1790 to 1970 sea level was about 20 cm higher than today
(3) In the 1970s, sea level fell by about 20 cm to its present level
(4) Sea level has remained stable for the last 30 years, implying that there are no traces of any alarming on-going sea level rise.
(5) Therefore, we are able to free the Maldives (and the rest of low-lying coasts and island around the globe) from the condemnation of becoming flooded in the near future.

... Your cabinet meeting under the water is nothing but a misdirected gimmick or PR stunt. Al Gore is a master in such cheap techniques. But such misconduct is dishonest, unproductive and certainly most un-scientific.

Nils-Axel Morner
Head of Paleogeophysics & Geodynamics at Stockholm University, Sweden (1991-2005); President of the INQUA Commission on Sea Level Changes and Coastal Evolution (1999-2003); Leader of the Maldives Sea Level Project (2000 on); Chairman of the INTAS project on Geomagnetism and Climate (1997-2003).

Maldives and other island nations have been banging on this drum for a long time, supported and encouraged by the AGW alarmists. None of the dishonest bastards cares about the facts. And all Maldives wants is money.