Saving the world from global warming

In 2014 Taiwan demanded an explanation for the disappearance of $US1.5 million dollars provided to purchase a transportation vessel. According to Kiribati media, its government said the money was wired to an overseas account, but apparently not that of the boat builder.

Tong claims that under his leadership, Kiribati created the Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA), "making it off limits to fishing and other extractive uses". He has repeatedly called PIPA his country's gift to the world. What Kiribati actually did in 2008 was ban fishing in the three percent of the reserve that wasn't being fished in the first place. In the rest of the reserve, as in the rest of Kiribati's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), industrial tuna fishing has been steadily increasing as prices and profits soar. Many environmental scientists claim that the area is overfished at unsustainable rates, and there are claims and counterclaims regarding the size and disposition of fishing licenses.

Tong has won numerous awards for his activities in combating climate change. The late Malcolm Fraser headed a committee "to promote the candidacy of Anatole Tong for the Nobel Peace Prize."

President Tong admits "We don't have everything working here like it should…I know that. But our problems are rooted in climate change…This is not caused by us. This is caused by you."

Apparently the problems would be solved if only Australia agreed to limit temperature increases to 1.5 degrees and stopped coal mining.

Perhaps President Tong should read the conclusions of his own Department, and spend a bit more time at home, solving problems that are surely within his control, thus showing the sense of moral responsibility becoming of leadership he expects of others.