REIKI.

To bring attention the risk the Maldives face from rising sea levels and climate change, President Mohamed Nasheed went to bottom of the Indian Ocean. Nasheed and 12 cabinet ministers donned scuba gear and dove 3.5 metres ( 11 feet, 6 inches ) under the surface of a turquoise lagoon to hold what is billes as the world's first underwater cabinet meeting.

Seated around a table and using hand signals and slates, the cabinet endorsed an "SOS" message from the Maldives to be presented at the U.N climate change summit in Copenhagen. World leaders will meet in Denmark in December to hammer out a successor agreement to the 1997 Kyota Protocol.

The underwater cabinet meeting is the latest of Nasheed's eye-catching moves to bring attention to the Maldives' plight before a landmark U.N. Climate meeting. It is part of the 350 parts per million (ppm). Current levels stand at 387 ppm.

The archipelago nation off the tip of India, mostly known for its high-end luxury tropical hideaways and unspoiled white-sand beaches, is among the most threatened by rising seas. Rising sea levels of up to 58 cm, as predicted by the U.N. Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, threaten to submerge most of the Maldives's low-lying islands by 2100.

Sources : Asia 2 and Images The Blue Water of Malvides Ilands