"Abdullahi Majeed, the Maldives’ Minister of State for Environment & Energy: The Alliance of Small Island States has 44 members. Our main problem is that we are very small countries at very low altitudes. The average height of the Maldives is only 1.2 metres above sea level, so of course we are seriously threatened by rising sea levels! The Maldives are made up of 1200 islands, of which 200 are inhabited. Our geography is our main challenge. We are also often exposed to natural disasters, like the cyclone that recently hit Vanuatu. A tsunami, like the one that occurred in 2004, takes a few minutes to destroy everything; we spent ten years rebuilding. What is more, ten years ago the dry season lasted three months in the Maldives. Now it lasts for five months and causes water shortages, because drinking water on many of the small islands comes from rain water and wells. Right now, 53 islands are asking for water to be delivered from the capital. We have had to rent a cargo ship, fill it with water and send it out to supply the islands, some of which take two days to reach by boat. This is a costly exercise that we have been doing for almost ten years."