Professor Buddhi Marambe of the University of Perdeniya in Sri Lanka speaks before guests during the Our Oceans 2020 partnership meeting held at the Palau Royal Resort on July 18. Professor Marambe shared that climate change is a common problem faced by every country.
Delegates from the Asia Pacific Adaptation Network (APAN) Advisory Group and officials of the Our Oceans 2020 Palau office, along with the key leaders in Palau whose works revolved around climate change and environment conservation, had met at the Palau Royal Resort (PRR)on Wednesday evening to show support on Palau’s hosting of a consultation on climate change.
Members of the diplomatic corps also joined in a light discussion about the impacts of climate change in the pacific. The event was the kickoff of the National Workshop on Enabling Resilience in Island Communities that was held at Ming’s Hall in Palasia Hotel yesterday.
Executive Director for Our Ocean 2020 Office in Palau, Destin Penland, told Island Times that aside from showing support to the climate change consultation, the APAN is also in Palau to prepare for their annual conference which is slated to happen in October this year in Manila, Philippines.
Penland said that the Our Oceans 2020 Office in Palau is also taking this opportunity to inform the delegates of Palau’s hosting of the Our Oceans Conference in 2020, a large gathering of leaders and stakeholders from around the world to talk about marine protected areas, sustainable fisheries and marine pollution.
Our Ocean Conferences were previously hosted by the European Union in Malta in 2017, Indonesia in 2018, and Norway in 2019.
Our Ocean 2020 Executive Director Penland said that APAN is part of the UN Environment program whose purpose is to provide technical assistance to countries in Asia and the Pacific to help them prepare for climate change and adapt to challenges of climate change. (Rhealyn C. Pojas)