Pacific Daily News
Thursday, May 8, 2008
By Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno
Pacific island lawmakers ended their three-day general assembly on Guam yesterday with a plan to further discuss global warming when they meet again as a smaller group in November.
The just-concluded Association of Pacific Island Legislatures' 27th general assembly addressed a wide range of issues that affect islands in the region, said Speaker Judith Won Pat of the Guam Legislature.
Because of time constraints, the association's members were unable to extensively discuss the effect of rising sea levels on the tiny island nations in the Micronesia region.
But global warming will be discussed at the association's board meeting in the Marshall Islands in November, Won Pat said.
General assembly delegate Alik J. Alik, vice speaker of the Marshall Islands' Nitijela, or Parliament, said concerns about rising sea levels have prompted some people in the island republic to relocate or consider relocating.
Certain areas in the Marshall Islands are just a few feet above sea level, and the republic's shorelines are starting to diminish, Alik said.
The three-day general assembly included discussions about human trafficking, Won Pat said.
Human trafficking became a particularly timely issue for the general assembly's discussion in light of the allegation that women from Chuuk were brought to Guam for an alleged prostitution operation.
The issue "really hit the islanders hard," Won Pat said.
Resolutions
The association passed more than a dozen resolutions and one of them was to protest against human trafficking and exploitation of women who become victims of trafficking.
The resolutions that the association passed will be sent to appropriate governments and international organizations, such as the U.S. Congress and the United Nations.
The association also passed a resolution calling for the need to train island residents across the Micronesia region for skills that will be needed for the U.S. military buildup on Guam. Alik said he fully supports the proposed military buildup on Guam because of the economic benefits -- not just for Guam, but for the rest of the region.
But at the same time, Alik said Guam should be given a bigger role in making sure the island's environment isn't harmed by the military's expansion plans.
If the military expansion will require use of land outside of what the military already owns on Guam, landowners should be fairly compensated, he said.
He said that in the Marshall Islands, some of the islanders still continue to press for additional compensation from the U.S. government for bomb tests on Marshalls atolls decades ago.
"For islanders, land is all we have," Alik said.
Copyright ©2008 Pacific Daily News
Original article URL: http://www.guampdn.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080508/NEWS01/805080309/1002