Snorkel with me to understand climate change, Palau's president tells Trump. March 13, 2025

Palau's president wants US leader Donald Trump to dive in with him to understand climate change (Philip FONG) (Philip FONG/AFP/AFP)

By AFP - Agence France Presse

Snorkel with me to understand climate change, Palau's president tells Trump.

Sara HUSSEIN

The leader of climate-vulnerable Palau wants US President Donald Trump to snorkel with him to understand the “slow death” caused by climate change, he told AFP in an interview on Wednesday.

“I think it's good for us to snorkel and observe things,” said Surangel Whipps Jr.

“The cost of not doing anything about (climate change) will be even worse... we need to look at it in those terms,” he added.

“I hope to be able to talk to President Trump about the financial aspect.”

Palau is an archipelago of around 340 islands east of the Philippines and is extremely vulnerable to rising seas, with Whipps acknowledging that some of his country's atolls could be lost in the coming years.

But he warned that “the threat is there for all of us” and asked Trump to “think of your children and your children's children”.

Trump has called climate change a fraud, withdrawn Washington from the landmark Paris Agreement for the second time, and ended US participation in major climate initiatives and research.

“Everyone seems to be looking into their own pockets, for their people, for what's best for them. But even the United States has a lot of low-lying areas,” Whipps said.

- 'China is doing more'

The Melanesian microstate, with around 20,000 inhabitants, is a staunch supporter of the US in a region where China has made inroads, but has also felt the impact of Trump cutting international aid, with some ocean monitoring programs now suspended.

Whipps warned that the US retreat risks ceding ground to China on the world stage.

“If Trump is worried about leadership, this is where he will lose a lot of ground,” he told AFP in Tokyo on the sidelines of an oceans summit.

“China is doing more for climate change at the moment than probably the US.”

The Baltimore-born leader was re-elected last year after a first term that saw the rapid expansion of US military interests in the Palau archipelago.

His country is one of the few to maintain diplomatic ties with Taiwan, despite China's retaliation, including an unofficial ban on its citizens visiting Palau, which depends on tourism.

“They continue to pressure us in different ways,” said Whipps, insisting that this would not influence Palau's policy.

“All we want is the status quo, we want to keep the peace.”

Palau became independent in 1994, but allowed the US military to use its territory under a long-standing agreement, the “Compact of Free Association”.

In return, the United States gives Palau hundreds of millions of dollars in budgetary support and assumes responsibility for its national defense.

- 'Destroying its future'

Palau has broken with some of its Pacific neighbors by calling for a moratorium on deep-sea mining and is trying to build consensus in the region ahead of a meeting that could finally define rules for mining in international waters.

“The science and the data are not yet available” on the possible impacts, Whipps said.

Scientists have warned that mining vast sections of the Pacific Ocean for metals such as nickel and cobalt - used in electric car batteries - could devastate little-known marine systems that play a crucial role in regulating the climate.

But several low-lying Pacific nations, including Nauru, Tonga and the Cook Islands, see deep sea mining as a potential money-maker for their struggling economies, especially when climate change affects other sectors.

Whipps said this is short-term thinking.

“You may think you're saving your people now, but you're destroying their future,” he warned.

Climate-vulnerable nations such as Palau have long sounded the alarm about global warming, with calls for a faster transition away from fossil fuels such as coal and requests for money to support countries most affected by climate disasters.

“When it was Covid, everyone mobilized because we're going to die now. Climate change is like a slow death,” he said.

“President Trump is now 78 years old, he should also be thinking about his children and his children's children. And I think when you put that perspective on it, it's easy.”

sah/dhc