Nasheed was met with partial success – the Copenhagen accord was drafted: “We could not have foreseen Nasheed’s rise to prominence at Copenhagen. It was almost unthinkable. You had the United States, India, China, Brazil, the EU, and the Maldives sitting at the table? If someone had said that to you in 2008, you might have laughed. Its hard to believe that he was able to do that, but he became such a big personality in the climate movement and in the world media that the international power brokers couldn’t help but pay attention to him. I think it was the first time in history that the major emitters in the world got together and admitted there was a problem, and that there needed to be a solution.

It’s been built upon in Cancun and Durban. China, for instance, is no longer dragging its feet. Now, what are they doing – disappointingly little, what is the US doing – disappointingly little. I’m not one to sugar coat it, but I think at least at the international political level, it’s not a question anymore – it’s going to happen, we have to figure out a way to do something about it. The developed nations of the world have to admit they have a responsibility, and the developing nations have to see that if they develop in the same way that the US and Europe developed, two wrongs don’t make a right. So we have to get together, and figure it out.”