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On the 17th of October, 2009,

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President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives[br]did something unusual.

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He held his cabinet meeting underwater.

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He literally took his ministers[br]scuba diving, as it were,

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to warn the world[br]that his country could drown

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unless we control global warming.

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Now I don't know whether he got[br]his message across to the world or not,

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but he certainly caught mine.

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I saw a political stunt.

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You see, I'm a politician,

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and I notice these things.

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And let's be honest,

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the Maldives are distant[br]from where I come from --

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my country is Bhutan --

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so I didn't lose any sleep[br]over their impending fate.

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Barely two months later,[br]I saw another political stunt.

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This time, the prime minister of Nepal,

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he held his cabinet meeting[br]on Mount Everest.

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He took all his ministers all the way up[br]to the base camp of Everest

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to warn the world

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that the Himalayan glaciers were melting.

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Now did that worry me?

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You bet it did.

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I live in the Himalayas.

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But did I lose any sleep over his message?

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No.

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I wasn't ready to let a political stunt[br]interfere with my beauty sleep.

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(Laughter)

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Now fast-forward 10 years.

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In February this year,

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I saw this report.

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This here report basically concludes

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that one-third of the ice[br]on the Hindu Kush Himalaya mountains

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could melt by the end of the century.

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But that's only if,

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if we are able to contain global warming

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to 1.5 degrees centigrade[br]over preindustrial levels.

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Otherwise, if we can't,

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the glaciers would melt much faster.

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1.5 degrees Celsius. "No way," I thought.

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Even the Paris Agreement's[br]ambitious targets

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aimed to limit global warming[br]to two degrees centigrade.

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1.5 degrees centigrade is what they call[br]the best-case scenario.

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"Now this can't be true," I thought.

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The Hindu Kush Himalaya region

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is the world's third-largest[br]repository of ice,

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after the North and South Poles.

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That's why we are also called[br]the "Third Pole."

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There's a lot of ice in the region.

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And yes, the glaciers, they are melting.

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We know that.

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I have been to those in my country.

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I've seen them, and yes, they are melting.

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They are vulnerable.

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"But they can't be that vulnerable,"[br]I remember thinking.

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But what if they are?

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What if our glaciers melt[br]much more quickly than I anticipate?

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What if our glaciers are much more[br]vulnerable than previously thought?

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And what if, as a result,[br]the glacial lakes --

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now these are lakes[br]that form when glaciers melt --

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what if those lakes burst[br]under the weight of additional water?

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And what if those floods[br]cascade into other glacial lakes,

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creating even bigger outbursts?

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That would create unprecedented[br]flash floods in my country.

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That would wreck my country.

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That would wreak havoc in my country.

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That would have the potential[br]to literally destroy our land,

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our livelihood, our way of life.

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So that report caught my attention

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in ways that political stunts couldn't.

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It was put together

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by the International Centre for Integrated[br]Mountain Development, or ICIMOD,

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which is based in Nepal.

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Scientists and experts have studied[br]our glaciers for decades,

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and their report kept me awake at night,[br]agonizing about the bad news

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and what it meant for my country

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and my people.

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So after several sleepless nights,

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I went to Nepal to visit ICIMOD.

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I found a team of highly competent[br]and dedicated scientists there,

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and here's what they told me.

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Number one:

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the Hindu Kush Himalaya glaciers[br]have been melting for some time now.

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Take that glacier, for instance.

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It's on Mount Everest.

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As you can see, this once massive glacier[br]has already lost much of its ice.

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Number two:

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the glaciers are now melting[br]much more quickly --

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so quickly, in fact, that at just[br]1.5 degrees centigrade of global warming,

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one-third of the glaciers would melt.

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At two degrees centigrade[br]of global warming,

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half the glaciers would disappear.

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And if current trends were to continue,

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a full two-thirds[br]of our glaciers would vanish.

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Number three:

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global warming means that our mountains[br]receive more rain and less snow ...

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and, unlike snowfall, rain melts ice,

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which just hurts[br]the health of our glaciers.

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Number four:

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pollution in the region has increased[br]the amount of black carbon

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that's deposited on our glaciers.

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Black carbon is like soot.

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Black carbon absorbs heat

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and just accelerates[br]the melting of glaciers.

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To summarize,

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our glaciers are melting rapidly,

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and global warming is making them[br]melt much more quickly.

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But what does this mean?

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It means that the 240 million people

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who live in the Hindu Kush[br]Himalaya region --

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in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India,[br]China, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar

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and my own beloved country, Bhutan --

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these people will be directly affected.

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When glaciers melt,

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when there's more rain and less snow,

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there will be huge changes[br]in the way water behaves.

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There will be more extremes:

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more intense rain,[br]more flash floods, more landslides,

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more glacial lake outburst floods.

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All this will cause[br]unimaginable destruction

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in a region that already has[br]some of the poorest people on earth.

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But it's not just the people[br]in the immediate region

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who'll be affected.

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People living downstream[br]will also be hit hard.

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That's because 10 of their major rivers

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originate in the Hindu Kush[br]Himalaya mountains.

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These rivers provide[br]critical water for agriculture

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and drinking water

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to more than 1.6 billion people[br]living downstream.

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That's one in five humans.

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That's why the Hindu Kush[br]Himalaya mountains

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are also called[br]the "water towers of Asia."

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But when glaciers melt,

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when monsoons turn severe,

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those rivers will obviously flood,

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so there will be deluges[br]when water is not required

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and droughts will be very common,

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when water is desperately required.

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In short, Asia's water tower[br]will be broken,

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and that will be disastrous[br]for one-fifth of humanity.

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Should the rest of the world care?

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Should you, for instance, care?

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Remember, I didn't care[br]when I heard that the Maldives

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could disappear underwater.

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And that is the crux[br]of the problem, isn't it?

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We don't care.

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We don't care until[br]we are personally affected.

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I mean, we know.[br]We know climate change is real.

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We know that we face[br]drastic and dramatic change.

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We know that it is coming fast.

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Yet most of us

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act as if everything were normal.

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So we must care,

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all of us,

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and if you can't care for those who are[br]affected by the melting of glaciers,

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you should at least care for yourself.

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That's because the Hindu Kush[br]Himalaya mountains --

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the entire region[br]is like the pulse of the planet.

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If the region falls sick,

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the entire planet will eventually suffer.

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And right now,

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with our glaciers melting rapidly,

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the region is not just sick --

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it is crying out for help.

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And how will it affect[br]the rest of the world?

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One obvious scenario[br]is the potential destabilization

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caused by tens of millions[br]of climate refugees,

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who'll be forced to move[br]because they have no or little water,

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or because their livelihoods[br]have been destroyed

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by the melting of glaciers.

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Another scenario we can't take lightly

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is the potential of conflict over water

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and the political destabilization[br]in a region that has three nuclear powers:

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China, India, Pakistan.

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I believe that the situation[br]in our region is grave enough

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to warrant the creation[br]of a new intergovernmental agency.

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So as a native[br]from that part of the world,

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I want to propose here, today,

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the establishment[br]of the Third Pole Council,

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a high-level,[br]intergovernmental organization

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tasked with the singular responsibility

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of protecting the world's[br]third-largest repository of ice.

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A Third Pole Council

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would consist of all eight countries[br]located in the region

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as member countries,

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as equal member countries,

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and could also include[br]representative organizations

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and other countries[br]who have vested interests in the region

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as non-voting members.

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But the big idea

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is to get all stakeholders together[br]to work together.

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To work together to monitor[br]the health of the glaciers;

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to work together to shape and implement[br]policies to protect our glaciers,

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and, by extension,

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to protect the billions of people[br]who depend on our glaciers.

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We have to work together,

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because thinking globally,[br]acting locally ...

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does not work.

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We've tried that in Bhutan.

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We've made immense sacrifices[br]to act locally ...

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and while individual localized efforts[br]will continue to be important,

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they cannot stand up[br]to the onslaught of climate change.

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To stand up to climate change,[br]we must work together.

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We must think globally and act regionally.

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Our entire region must come together,

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to work together,

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to fight climate change together,

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to make our voices heard together.

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And that includes India and China.

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They must step up their game.

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They must take the ownership[br]of the fight to protect our glaciers.

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And for that, these two countries,[br]these two powerful giants,

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must reduce their own greenhouse gases,

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control their pollution,[br]and lead the fight.

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Lead the global fight[br]against climate change.

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And all that with a renewed[br]sense of urgency.

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Only then -- and that, too, only maybe --

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will our region

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and other regions[br]that depend on our glaciers

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have any chance to avoid[br]major catastrophes.

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Time is running out.

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We must act together, now.

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Otherwise, the next time[br]Nepal's cabinet meets on Mount Everest,

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that spectacular backdrop ...

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may look quite different.

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And if that happens,

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if our glaciers melt,

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rising sea levels[br]could well drown the Maldives.

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And while they can hold[br]their cabinet meetings underwater

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to send an SOS to the world,

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their country can keep existing

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only if their islands keep existing.

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The Maldives are still distant, away.

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Their islands are distant[br]from where I live.

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But now, I pay close attention[br]to what happens out there.

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Thank you very much.

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(Applause)