Communities in Solomon Islands may lose their homes, culture, identity and way of life because of climate change Minister of Environment, Conservation and Meteorology Gordon Darcy Lilo has warned when he addressed the opening of the one-week Climate Change workshop that begins in Gizo yesterday.

Mr Lilo stressed that climate change is an all encompassing issue that cuts across all sectors and has profound environmental, social, economical and political implications.

He said it's an issue that we encounter on a daily basis as it poses threats to food production and our water supplies. "We face the threats of a wide range of other impacts such as flooding and coastal erosion, said Mr Lilo.

As such, he said, he urged all stakeholders to work together in tackling the adverse effects of climate change. "It calls for cooperation and collaboration; a partnership among all stakeholders and at all levels."

The Environment, Conservation and Meteorology Minister stressed that it is his government's commitment to work in partnership with ALL stakeholders to address climate change.

"We all have a role to play - different yet complimentary roles - in ensuring that we effectively tackle the challenges posed by a changing climate; to ensure that environmental degradation and man-made disasters that contribute to climate change are controlled or minimized."

Mr Lilo also emphasized that his government will seek to ensure that climate change issues are put higher on the national agenda. "As part of this commitment, my Ministry is pursuing strategic programs for sound environmental management and sustainable development.

Under our national climate change programs we will pursue the formulation of a National Climate Change Policy Framework as well as the Clean Development Mechanism, CDM, of the Kyoto Protocol for which we would like to establish the Designated National Authority for CDM.

Mr Lilo also said his Ministry is finalizing the Environment Regulations to the Environment Act of 1998 and the Wildlife Protection and Management Regulations to the Wildlife Protection and Management Act of 1998. He stressed that these are initiatives to move forward and "are indicative of the holistic approach that the government is taking in pursuit of achieving sustainable socio-economic development.