Entire islands, languages and histories will be lost to rising sea levels before the end of this century unless urgent action is taken on climate change, the president of Nauru says.
While the world's island nations have a history of perseverance against all odds, they are facing their biggest threat yet, President Baron Waqa told the United Nations' International Year of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) launch in New York on Monday.
Nauru holds the chair of the Alliance of Small Island States, a coalition of 44 small island and low-lying coastal countries.
"No people or country has faced the risk of total inundation from rising seas before," President Waqa said.
It isn't just small island nations that are at risk from the effects of climate change, he said.
"Never forget that by protecting us, we safeguard the whole world."
