I'd like to thank my two friends Ambrose & Lionel for again bringing up the discussion. The issue of global warming is in fact a global concern as it has huge implications on all aspects of life and Small Island states like ours are very vulnerable not only because of the size of our islands but also because of the money factor. Just think about how the copra industry was affected during cyclone Namu and the effects on the copra production which are still evident today. Or the recent cyclone (Nargis) which devastated Myanmar this year. As correctly stated by Lionel, the big issue is we need to take appropriate actions now.

Most of the climate scientists have now agreed that the earth is warming and that this rise in global temperatures is partially due to emission of greenhouse gases. The sad thing is the small islands are the ones who will be mostly affected despite the fact that our emission is quite insignificant compared to the developed countries. Again, we need to take appropriate actions now and not just sit around and argue about who is responsible. We may not have the time, as there are locations such as Lord Howe and others who are experiencing the effects now (food shortage due to inundation).

As for the legislations, I do agree that we need to have them in place; however, given the situation now, we should not entwine our actions with these requirements. There needs to be a parallel approach to address these concerns and more importantly, address the situation on the ground. With regards to policies, the CNURA government should be praised for recognizing the importance of climate change by firstly putting in place climate change policies for 2008-2010 and secondly creating the new climate change division and not to mention the completion of the NATIONAL ADAPTATION PROGRAMME OF ACTION-NAPA (there are certain press releases on this document in the solomontimes online). I believe, legislations or acts (wat eva iu laek kolem-Lawyer tu..) are in the pipeline. Oprah Winfrey once said to Al Gore during an interview about his documentary, " the inconvenient truth"...THANK YOU AL GORE, THANK YOU FOR BEING OUR NOAH. I think the same should be said about Dr. Sikua and his team..Thumbs up guys. We are, at last doing something about climate change.

NOTE: Please note that the views expressed here are solely of the author and not my employer.