PALAU PRESIDENT REMENGESAU FAULTS EARTH SUMMIT ON GLOBAL WARMING

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (September 6, 2002 – Marianas Variety/Reuters)---The Pacific island state of Palau branded the Earth Summit a disappointment in fighting global warming on Tuesday, saying climate change was a growing threat to its people and myriad rare species.

But tiny Palau in the western Pacific, which says it has more species of wildlife by area than any other nation, said it would not join the Pacific state of Tuvalu in a planned lawsuit blaming the United States for rising temperatures.

Palau, which is "freely associated" with the U.S., says it has 1,400 different types of fish in its waters. Other creatures include rare green turtles, salt-water crocodiles and giant clams that can weigh up to two tons.

"We’re putting our hopes in the international community coming to its senses," President Tommy Remengesau told Reuters of climate change threatening a necklace of 200 islands making up Palau.

"For island states it’s a matter of life and death," he said of scientists’ warnings that polar ice caps could melt and swamp low-lying states. "For us it’s not just sustainability, it’s survival." Palau has a population of about 19,000.

He said there would be "a lot of disappointment" in nations like Palau after the World Summit on Sustainable Development, which ended on Wednesday and barely touched on global warming.

U.S. President George W. Bush has pulled out of the 1997 Kyoto pact, under which developed nations agreed to rein in emissions of greenhouse gases produced mainly by cars, homes and factories burning oil and other fossil fuels.

Scientists say the gases are trapping heat in the atmosphere and boosting temperatures. Many islands in Palau could be swamped by rising sea levels.

Remengesau said global warming was leading to more extreme weather, including a surge in sea temperature in 1997 that bleached about 80 percent of coral reefs.

Storms were also carrying salt water onto farmland and threatening wildlife.

Presidents speech