Republic of Nauru

Permanent Mission to the United Nations

Testimony

before the

House Committee on Foreign Affairs

Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and the Global Environment

“Climate Change and Vulnerable Societies: A Post-Bali Overview”

by

H.E. Ms. Marlene Moses

Ambassador of the Republic of Nauru to the United States of America

Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Republic of Nauru

to the United Nations

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Mr. Chairman The Honourable Eni Faleomavaega,

Honourable Committee Members,

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen:

On behalf of His Excellency President Marcus Stephen, the Government and people of Nauru, I bring you warm and friendly greetings. We are honoured and appreciate this chance to share our perspectives on climate change.

Nauru is a proud member of the United Nations and a charter member of the Alliance of Small Island States. Climate change has been our primary preoccupation for nearly three decades. We did not produce or benefit from the greenhouse gases that are causing the earth to warm, yet we are among the countries most vulnerable to the costs. Our national survival literally depends on how you respond to climate change in the next few years.

Consider our situation, Mr. Chairman. Our island home in the South Pacific is fringed by a narrow rim where our people live just a couple of meters above sea level. The entire elevated center of our island is an exhausted phosphate mine; all that remains there are tall pinnacles of ancient coralstone. Global warming is predicted conservatively to raise sea level by one meter in this century, which will flood our only habitable land. Our people are trapped between the rising sea and an ancient, uninhabitable coral field.

We have a saying in our country: Nauru is “small but sandy.” We may be few in numbers, but we are a gritty people, capable of rising to great challenges. We are working hard to rehabilitate our island and create a safe and sustainable haven from the rising sea. We do not have much time, but we have a plan. The coralstone pinnacles left behind after mining can be cut into stones and tiles that are strong, beautiful, and valuable. We are building an industry based on processing and exporting these coralstone products, and will use the proceeds to rehabilitate our island home. At the same time we are beginning secondary phosphate mining, which will help prepare the ground for reforestation and rehabilitation.

We invite you to participate in this hopeful and historic venture. We see three possible avenues for cooperation between our countries. The first is joint implementation (JI) under the climate convention. As you know, JI enables an emitting country such as the United States to gain greenhouse gas credits by implementing greenhouse gas reduction projects jointly in other countries, such as Nauru. Reforestation of Nauru’s topside would absorb significant quantities of greenhouse gases, which could make it an attractive JI project for the United States.

Second, direct funding assistance towards rehabilitation and the coralstone project would help us get this project off the ground. Third, we are open to public or private joint ventures with the United States government or private companies.

Mr. Chairman, you asked how the United States can advance international cooperation on climate change. You could begin by acknowledging the historic contribution of the United States to climate change and pledging to help the most vulnerable nations of the world adapt to its consequences. With this simple, single step you will win the hearts and minds of all people.

Mr. Chairman, you also asked whether the United States could fruitfully engage the Alliance of Small Island States on climate change. Yes, by all means; we want to talk with you. And you asked how the United States and the United Nations can work together to protect vulnerable societies. We respectfully suggest two parallel fronts: adaptation, and mitigation.

On the first front, reach out to the most vulnerable peoples of the world, and help them adapt to the catastrophes of climate change. We do not seek handouts – for Nauru’s part, we seek only the seed funding needed to initiate a profitable coralstone industry that will enable us to restore our island on our own, without further international assistance.

On the second front, the United States can help mitigate climate change by taking the steps that scientists say are essential. Greenhouse gas emissions must be cut by up to 80% in the next few decades just to stabilize their concentration in the atmosphere enough to avoid catastrophic global warming. Economists say you can do this profitably if you start soon and act with determination.

Finally Mr. Chairman, you asked what steps the U. S. might take in response to the United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Bali in December of 2007. Above all, the United States can lead the negotiation of a robust treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol after 2012. A robust treaty will contain clear and effective targets and timetables for emission reductions based on scientific evidence; strong measures to develop and disseminate clean technologies; and an enhanced action plan for adaptation assistance, including – as the Bali Action Plan indicates -- consideration of the “urgent and immediate needs” of vulnerable countries such as “small island developing States.”

We are ready to do our part, Mr. Chairman. We anticipate with the greatest pleasure the coming creation of an effective global climate regime under your leadership.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.