It follows an opinion piece in the New York Times newspaper, appealing for action.
Campbell Cooney spoke to the Marshalls' foreign minister Phillip Muller, who said there's been strong support in New York for the Majuro Declaration, signed at the recent Pacific Islands Forum leaders meeting.
Presenter: Campbell Cooney
Speaker: Phillip Muller, Marshall Islands Foreign Minister
MULLER: Well, I am very excited, I am very happy to say that the message is being received very well. We have had many countries that have signed on to the Majuro Declaration. There is a great momentum and support continues while we make our rounds here at the UN. In the last few minutes, the United States has submitted their support for the declaration and we had many others that have come forward and expressed their support for the declaration. So there is a lot of momentum for this.
COONEY: You, of course, have got the support of the Pacific nations, like Palau. We heard earlier this week, from the UN, from the President of Kiribati, Mr Tong, and others as well and they've got the support. You mentioned the United States. What other countries from other parts of the developed world and other regions of the world have also given their support and signed onto it?
MULLER: We have commitments from the UK, from France. We are working with the European Union and many other countries from Asia that have expressed an interest. And basically it is very important that big emitters must step forward with more ambitious actions to their submissions. So I can say that there is a lot of excitement. I think the timing is very, very important and very timely, because this will be top-tailing with the UN Secretary-General's Climate Change Summit next year, so we're hoping that this will be part of that effort.
COONEY: One of the things that seems to have dominated to a certain degree at the General Assembly this year has been the issues in the Middle East, Iran and its leadership, Syria and the concerns about it and the Security Council concerns raised. Has it been difficult for the Marshalls and other Pacific nations to get their message on climate change out there, given how much interest there is in the Syria issue?
MULLER: Truly surprisingly, we have gotten a lot of attention, like I was saying. There is a buildup of momentum and support that continues here at the UN and so those other issues really have not dampened the effort of all the Pacific Island leaders, including the Marshall Islands, in trying to bring over the measures to the UN as a whole.
COONEY: Your President has made his address, am I correct?
MULLER: Yes, he just done that about 30 minutes ago.
COONEY: How was the response to that?
MULLER: That was an excellent report, statement to the GA - he referenced again the Majuro Declaration and the need for countries to step forward and follow the Pacific leaders in trying to be active and more visible and basically was saying again like what he was saying before - if we can do it, you can do it as well.
COONEY: It's quite an event in its own right the General Assembly. You've gone over there and your delegation has gone there to get this issue addressed and get support for the declaration. What other things take part for the Marshall Islands during the General Assembly? What other business are you conducting while you're in New York?
MULLER: Ah, before I go into other business, let me say that tomorrow morning the President Loeak and a number of the leaders from the Forum will be meeting with the UN Secretary-General, tomorrow morning, to present the former leader Majuro Declaration as a gift to the United Nations and to the world. So that will be an interesting event tomorrow morning. But on other issues, I just came out from speaking on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation issue, reminding the Assembly that the Marshall Islands is still going through unfinished business and obligations resulting from the nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands. But also earlier, I spoke on the high-level MDG Conference and so we also made a short report about the progress of the Pacific region, also on the constraints that we face as we try to meet our MDG target before 2015.
COONEY: We've heard some concerns raised on the MDG targets by the Pacific Island Forum's Secretary-General, that maybe they should change the focus when it comes to those ones, more achievable goals, because it seems unlikely that all those goals will be achieved by the set date. Something worth considering as far as the Marshall Islands are concerned to do that?
MULLER: Oh, I think so, I think so, definitely. And in addition to that, we're also asking and suggesting that for the post-2015 sustainable development agenda that, of course, climate change and oceans be included as part of the Millennium Development Goals for the next agenda.
