PRIME Minister Hon. James Marape has asked that President of the United States of America, Hon. Donald Trump reconsider his decision to withdraw the United States from
the Paris Agreement and current global climate efforts.
The Prime Minister issued the call to reiterate remarks he made at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting on Thursday (23.01.25) in Davos.
Prime Minister Marape said he was greatly concerned for Papua New Guinea and the smaller Pacific Island countries who have been unjustly subjected to the effects of Climate Change in rising sea levels and severe weather pattern changes that continue to have devastating impact on their fragile economies.
He said it was within the President’s right to think of his country, but for the President to withdraw the second biggest emitter of carbon dioxide from the Paris Agreement without announcing the shut-down of coal power plants is “totally irresponsible”.
“I am speaking from the PNG perspective as the big forest and ocean nation and a leader of the Pacific region. I ask President Trump to reconsider his decision to withdraw USA from the Paris Agreement,” said PM Marape.
“The United States is the second biggest holder of carbon footprint, only after China. The United States is not shutting down any of its coal power plants yet decides to withdraw from current climate efforts. This is totally irresponsible.
“President Trump has his rights in his Put America First agenda, but he needs to tell us how he will respond to the matter of climate change because the Science is not lying to us about the planet heating up.
“It is morally wrong for him not to be sensitive to the global climate change
issues. As the Leader of the Free World, Trump and the United States have the
moral responsibility to ensure that our planet remains safe to sustain all of us.
“Good global leaders are also responsible world statesmen. They take responsibility not just for their own countries, but also for our planet,” said the Prime Minister.
PM Marape has urged the President to reconsider his decision and find another solution if he feels the US is unfairly being expected to carry the bigger load of responsibility of the climate issue.
PM Marape said he would take the matter up at the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) to have PIF make a combined statement on Trump’s withdrawal of USA from the climate talks.
“The United States has recently revitalized its relations with the Pacific and it is very discouraging to see it backing down from climate talks which have direct impact on climate change mitigation for us in the Pacific. We continue to be subjected to rising sea levels, unpredictable weather patterns that impacts lives and economies.
“Big nations like the United Sates can afford to withstand the impact of typhoons, wildfires and tornadoes. But for small nations like us, we cannot,” said Prime Minister Marape.
