The world’s first underwater cabinet was held on Saterday by the Maldivian President and government ministers as a shout to the wrest of the world to help with the threatening rise of sea levels around the tropical islands.

The act comes before a landmark U.N. climate change meeting that will be held in December and is done to grab the attention of world leaders and the people to show the risks of climate change.

President Mohamed Nasheed and his cabinet headed to the bottom of a lagoon dressed into their black diving suits and masks and dove 3.8 meters (12 feet, 8 inches) around a table.

The meeting was held in the crystalline waters that draw thousands of tourists to $1,000-a-night luxury resorts.

The meeting took 30-minutes and was aired on the Maldivian national TV. The president said after he emerged from water “We are trying to send our message to let the world know what is happening and what will happen to the Maldives if climate change isn’t checked”

The archipelago nation off the tip of India, best-known for luxury tropical hideaways and unspoiled beaches, is among the most threatened by rising seas. If U.N. predictions are correct, most of the low-lying Maldives will be submerged by 2100.