It was 31 years ago when the Marshall Islands\u2019 first president, Amata Kabua, appeared before the U.N. General Assembly to sound the alarm over global warming. Today, his son \u2014 current president David Kabua \u2014 is still sounding the alarm, which has only gotten more dire.<\/p>\n
Speaking to world leaders gathered at the high-level leaders’ meeting Tuesday, the younger Kabua described the longstanding fight to keep his low-lying island nation above water.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, we renew our call to the world to declare total war on this century\u2019s greatest challenge \u2014 the climate change monster,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Kabua bemoaned the fact that after so many years, \u201cthe world has failed to break our addiction to fossil fuels.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not investing enough in life-saving adaptation, particularly for small island states,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He urged world leaders to drastically increase renewable energy while also taking on sectors that rely on fossil fuels, including aviation and shipping. He pointed to the Marshall Islands\u2019 carbon levy proposal for international shipping that he says \u201cwill drive the transition to zero emission shipping, channeling resources from polluters to the most vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has likewise encouraged going after the world\u2019s largest polluters. During his opening remarks to the assembly on Tuesday, he pushed for richer countries to tax the profits of energy companies and redirect the funds to both \u201ccountries suffering loss and damage caused by the climate crisis\u201d and those struggling with the rising cost of living.<\/p>\n
Kabua, along with the leaders of Tuvalu and Kiribati, plan to launch the Rising Nations Initiative on Wednesday to press for innovative efforts among Pacific atoll island countries to combat climate change.<\/p>\n
Also on Tuesday, Kabua described his growing concerns over nuclear weapons testing and detonation, calling the Marshall Islands \u201cground zero for the testing of the 67 nuclear and thermonuclear weapons for 12 years during the U.N.-U.S.-administered trusteeship era.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe exposure of our people and land has created impacts that have lasted \u2013 and will last \u2013 for generations,\u201d Kabua said. \u201cThese impacts to our human rights, land, culture, health and lives, are burdens that no other nation or country should ever have to bear.”<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Pia Sarkar, a Philadelphia-based journalist for The Associated Press, is on assignment covering the U.N. General Assembly. Follow her on Twitter at http:\/\/twitter.com\/PiaSarkar_TK and for more AP coverage of the U.N. General Assembly, visit https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/united-nations-general-assembly<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It was 31 years ago when the Marshall Islands\u2019 first president, Amata Kabua, appeared before the U.N. General Assembly to sound the alarm over global warming. Today, his son \u2014 current president David Kabua \u2014 is still sounding the alarm, which has only gotten more dire. Speaking to world leaders gathered at the high-level leaders’ […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1226,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n