1.5 to stay alive
At the UN climate talks in Copenhagen, more than 100 countries are determined to hold the line on 1.5°C rather than 2°C. Why?
The Caribbean Youth Environment Network partnered with the Ministry of Sustainable Development in St. Lucia, the Global Environmental Facility Small Grants Programme and the Bank of St. Lucia to launch a regional campaign called "1.5 to stay alive" aimed at raising awareness regarding the dangers of climate change. The campaign was also intended to build support for climate change negotiators in advance of the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21).
The campaign slogan was devised to convey that Small Island Developing States and other vulnerable regions could not accept a climate change deal that would not maintain a temperature increase below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The Maldives is not alone: other atoll countries, like the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Kiribati are in the same boat. Other vulnerable states, particularly those in Africa which are prone to drought and harvest failures, and nations in Central America and Asia which could suffer stronger hurricanes and more extreme weather, also know that 1.5°C is the key line for them.