Palau as an island nation and top tourist destination has been seriously impacted global warming and may follow the course of other islands which may very well disappear within 100 years. Read on in this Reuters article from http://www.planetark.org/.
I've also posted the ProTravellers' list of 20 destinations that might melt off the map with effects of global warming.
JOHANNESBURG - The Pacific island state of Palau branded the Earth Summit a disappointment in fighting global warming this week, saying climate change was a growing threat to its people and myriad rare species.
But tiny Palau in the western Pacific, which says it has more species of wildlife by area than any other nation, said it would not join the Pacific state of Tuvalu in a planned lawsuit blaming the United States for rising temperatures.
Palau says it has 1,400 different types of fish in its waters. Other creatures include rare green turtles, salt-water crocodiles and giant clams that can weigh up to two tonnes.
"We're putting our hopes in the international community coming to its senses," President Tommy Remengesau told Reuters of climate change threatening a necklace of 200 islands making up Palau.
"For island states it's a matter of life and death," he said of scientists' warnings that polar icecaps could melt and swamp low-lying states. "For us it's not just sustainability, it's survival." Palau has a population of about 19,000.
He said there would be "a lot of disappointment" in nations like Palau after the World Summit on Sustainable Development, which ends yesterday and barely touched on global warming.
U.S. President George W. Bush has pulled out of the 1997 Kyoto pact, under which developed nations agreed to rein in emissions of greenhouse gases produced mainly by cars, homes and factories burning oil and other fossil fuels.
Scientists say the gases are trapping heat in the atmosphere and boosting temperatures. Many islands in Palau could be swamped by rising sea levels.
Remengesau said that global warming was leading to more extreme weather, including a surge in sea temperature in 1997 that bleached about 80 percent of coral reefs.
Storms were also carrying salt water onto farmland and threatening wildlife.
Story by Alister Doyle
=========================================================== 'World Environment News' is copyright (c) Planet Ark 2008 All headlines are copyright (c) Reuters 2008
Palau as an island nation and top tourist destination has been seriously impacted global warming and may follow the course of other islands which may very well disappear within 100 years. Read on in this Reuters article from http://www.planetark.org/.
I've also posted the ProTravellers' list of 20 destinations that might melt off the map with effects of global warming.
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=17617
JOHANNESBURG - The Pacific island state of Palau branded the Earth Summit a disappointment in fighting global warming this week, saying climate change was a growing threat to its people and myriad rare species.
But tiny Palau in the western Pacific, which says it has more species of wildlife by area than any other nation, said it would not join the Pacific state of Tuvalu in a planned lawsuit blaming the United States for rising temperatures.
Palau says it has 1,400 different types of fish in its waters. Other creatures include rare green turtles, salt-water crocodiles and giant clams that can weigh up to two tonnes.
"We're putting our hopes in the international community coming to its senses," President Tommy Remengesau told Reuters of climate change threatening a necklace of 200 islands making up Palau.
"For island states it's a matter of life and death," he said of scientists' warnings that polar icecaps could melt and swamp low-lying states. "For us it's not just sustainability, it's survival." Palau has a population of about 19,000.
He said there would be "a lot of disappointment" in nations like Palau after the World Summit on Sustainable Development, which ends yesterday and barely touched on global warming.
U.S. President George W. Bush has pulled out of the 1997 Kyoto pact, under which developed nations agreed to rein in emissions of greenhouse gases produced mainly by cars, homes and factories burning oil and other fossil fuels.
Scientists say the gases are trapping heat in the atmosphere and boosting temperatures. Many islands in Palau could be swamped by rising sea levels.
Remengesau said that global warming was leading to more extreme weather, including a surge in sea temperature in 1997 that bleached about 80 percent of coral reefs.
Storms were also carrying salt water onto farmland and threatening wildlife.
Story by Alister Doyle
'World Environment News' is copyright (c) Planet Ark 2008
All headlines are copyright (c) Reuters 2008
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