As long as there´s water, you will always be able to scuba dive but what you see under the surface might not exist any longer.

So concerned are they by the threat of global warming that Maldive government officials donned scuba gear on 17th October to draw the world’s attention to it one more time.

As a publicity stunt they held an underwater meeting amidst pristine coral, to highlight the threat global warming poses to the world’s lowest-lying nation – it will disappear if global warming continues at the rate it is at the moment.

During the meeting, conducted mainly by writing on white boards and using hand signals, Maldivian President Mohammed Nasheed signed a document asking all countries to cut down their carbon dioxide emissions, prior to the U.N. climate change conference scheduled for December in Copenhagen.

Now, you might think this all a little dramatic and possibly even far-fetched, but it is the bleak future we are leaving to our children if we don’t wake up to this fact now…

Coral is an excellent indicator of climate change, and they are on the brink of collapse.

Are you a keen scuba-diver? and is this pretty much what you hope to see when you slip into the ocean and fin towards a coral reef.

Coral reefs are the most diverse and beautiful of all marine habitats.

It is not unusual for a reef to have several hundred species of snails, sixty species of corals, and several hundred species of fish. Of all ocean habitats, reefs seem to have the greatest development of complex symbiotic associations.

Coral reefs are valuable eco-systems that we will not be able to rebuild. They save the world billions of dollars annually by acting as natural sea defenses. Reefs also earn in the region of $30 billion a year for local economies from tourism. Quite apart from this about 500 million people worldwide depend on the reefs for their food. That’s a lot of people who will need aid if reefs collapse.

Globally, coral reefs are under threat from climate change, ocean acidification, overuse of reef resources, and harmful land-use practices. High nutrient levels such as those found in runoff from agricultural areas and industry can harm reefs by encouraging excess algae growth.