President Mohamed Nasheed and his cabinet will sign a document during the dive, calling for global cuts in carbon emissions.  An adviser to the president told the BBC the dive was "a bit of fun" but was intended as a serious message about rising sea levels.  The adviser, who asked not to be named, said ministers would communicate during the meeting using hand signals and waterproof boards and pens.

"Obviously the hand signals that divers can use are limited, so the amount of work the cabinet are going to get done will be limited," he said.  "But they will call on all nations - rich and poor, developed and developing - to take climate change seriously." All cabinet members bar one - who has a medical condition that rules out diving - have been in training at a military base on one of the country's many islands.

Mr Nasheed, who is already a qualified diver, will also hold a press conference in the water.  Some 80% of the Maldives archipelago is less than a metre above sea level and is extremely vulnerable to any rise in sea levels as a result of global warming melting the polar ice caps. Mr Nasheed has warned that the entire nation may have to find a new home if the oceans rise as predicted by the UN.

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