Addressing the General Assembly of the United Nations at the High Level Debate on Climate Change, H.E. Stuart Beck, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Palau, urged Security Council action on the issue:

"The waters continue to rise in Palau, and everywhere else. Salinization of fresh water and formerly productive lands continues apace. The reefs, the foundation of our food chain, experience periodic bleaching and death. Throughout the Pacific, sea level rise has not only generated plans for the relocation of populations, but such relocations are actually in progress. Though this litany of disasters has become well known in these halls, no action with remedial consequences has been taken. Larger countries can build dikes, and move to higher ground. This is not feasible for the small island states who must simply stand by and watch their cultures vanish."

"Is the United Nations simply powerless to act in the face of this threat to the very existence of many of its member states? We suggest that it is not."

(The full text of Ambassador Beck’s remarks at the UN Climate Change debate can be found here.)

Islands First was established at the behest of the United Nations Missions of small island nations such as Palau to facilitate their advocacy for international environmental justice. Although issues such as climate change and oceans destruction disproportionately threaten small island nations, international environmental policy is dominated by the political and economic interests of large and wealthy nations. Islands First redresses this political inequality by building the capacity of the UN Missions of the small island developing states and assisting their missions during critical points in the UN process.

To be sure, navigating the politics of global warming is no easy task, but it is one in which small island states have no choice but to take the lead. They have unimpeachable moral standing as well as political will in abundance. There is no group of nations more appropriate to lead the fight for global environmental justice.