“Kiribati is not Titanic,” said Kiribati President

Kiribati President Taneti Maamau has stressed for the first time to the world his government’s strong stance on the issue of climate change.

In a 14-minute video that will be presented to the world at the COP23 meeting in Bonn Germany, President Maamau stressed that his government agrees that climate change is a serious problem to Kiribati but it will not sink.

“Climate change is indeed a serious problem to Kiribati but we don’t believe that Kiribati will sink like the ‘Titanic’ ship. The Titanic ship is different. It is built by human hands whilst our country, our beautiful islands are created by the hands of God,” declared President Maamau.

Maamau said his government will do its utmost capability to try to build the capacity of the people of Kiribati with the idea of building Kiribati into a resilient and improve the adaptive capacity of its people so they can enjoy a peaceful living in their beautiful islands.

Weeks before his departure to the COP23 meeting, President Maamau convened the first ‘KV20 National Summit’ attended by youths, women, old men, Mayors and clerks  from the country’s 23 inhabited islands with the theme ‘Wealthy, Healthy and Peaceful Kiribati’.

The Kiribati Vision 20 Years (KV20) is the country’s longer term vision for twenty years where fisheries and tourism are the main priority areas which can speed up the development of the country.

In his opening remarks, Maamau told participants that he’s ready to spread Kiribati’s message to the world that Kiribati is not going to sink.

“I am now ready to spread a message to the world that Kiribati will not sink. We’re thankful; I’ve read a letter from Pope Francis which I’ve received regarding his belief on climate change. The letter doesn’t say that world will sink,” said President Maamau.

“The letter only mentioned God’s will such as human activities and how humans don’t take good care of the resources they’ve been given and how highly they’ve admired those resources in a way that it will later destroy them”.

He said the people of Kiribati shouldn’t be worried about what has been said about their country globally that it will sink.

“We shouldn’t be worried. It’s very misleading that Kiribati will be sinking like Titanic. We shouldn’t be worried. We’ve been threatened. The people of the world have been threatened that Kiribati will be sinking.”

“This is misleading and unfair because in the end we might not be getting any aid or help. But we’re grateful that our development partners continue to stay away from this misleading fact.”

“This is what we’re going spread and shout out to the world. We’ve worked out a way to mingle with what’s been said around the world that Kiribati will be sinking, 50 years from now or in the next 2000 years, in the new century”.

President Taneti Maamau said his government wants a good science that will provide a precise prediction of Kiribati’s future submergence under water.

“Well, it doesn’t really matter because the scientists will be changing. We want a good science which will tell us the exact day and time when Kiribati will sink”.


SOURCE: RADIO KIRIBATI/PACNEWS