Climate Change Resilience
By Samisoni Pareti, Editor in Chief, Islands Business Magazine in Paris amplifying the Pacific Voice at COP21

30 November, 2015, Paris, France, COP21 - Palau wants to be a leader in the use of renewable energy in the Pacific, President Tommy Remengesau Junior told COP21 in Paris today. The island republic is well on its way of achieving this goal with an ambitious INDC (Intended Nationally Determined Contribution's) that plans to half Palau's emission by half in 2025.

Palau1The Palau delegation at COP 21 with SPREP

In addition, Palau has declared 80 per cent of its Exclusive Economic Zone a no-take zone, meaning no commercial fishing will be allowed in 500, 000 square kilometres of ocean. That's an area that is the size of France.

Such an effective carbon sink is crucial President Remengesau told delegates, because a large marine protected area allows for marine diversity to recover and for fish stocks to rebound, providing spillover benefits for our oceans and for our world.

"COP21 must be the turning point in the fight against climate change," said President Remengesau.

"We need a Paris agreement that is strong, has long term goals, robust, transparent and contains a permanent loss and damage mechanism.

"We need to scale up our efforts to pre-2020 climate action. We need bold climate action now. As a member of AOSIS, the Alliance of Small Island States, we continue to emphasise the need for a more ambitious, pre-2020 action to give the world the best chance to avoid dangerous warming."

"We must come together for the benefit of all humanity, as we are witnessing a global movement to protect our society like we have never seen before." - #4PacIslands