H.E. Caleb Otto, M.D., United Nations ambassador of the Republic of Palau, recently served as the featured speaker at this year’s faculty colloquium, an annual event designed to enrich the knowledge of the University community through an exclusive dialogue with visiting U.N. ambassadors.
Several members of the faculty and staff gathered to listen to Dr. Otto, who focused on the issue of climate change and its detrimental effects on not only his native country of Palau, but the many other small Pacific islands.
“Climate change is the most severe pressing threat to consolidating developmental gains and to the future development of all the countries,” said Dr. Otto. “We need to look at the enormity and complexity of climate change as a global economic problem.”
Dr. Otto discussed many harmful impacts of climate change to Palau and developing countries, including rising sea levels, land erosion and more frequent, increasingly intense tropical storms. Emphasizing the need for science-based policies to address climate change, he also offered potential solutions such as mitigation of greenhouse gasses, reduction of fossil fuels and heading off deforestation.
“I challenge all of you to think about making your homes more energy efficient, to minimize your own personal use of energy and to encourage breast feeding worldwide to reduce the carbon footprint of breast milk substitutes,” he said.
Dr. Otto acknowledged that some losses due to climate change could not be recouped, but that people should not be deterred from finding solutions to prevent those losses from becoming even more devastating. He also pointed out that Palau and other countries have limited access to money, capacity and technology to address the impacts of global warming.
“We’ve been very vocal about the need to recognize our special cases. Our countries are small, isolated, don’t have money and have little way of economic development,” added Dr. Otto. “We are just at the receiving end of climate change.”
In addition to climate change, Dr. Otto also discussed Palau’s recent move to pass legislation that makes all of its waters a national marine sanctuary. This means all commercial fishing is banned in hopes of bringing the country’s dwindling biodiversity back to life.
“We think this is the way to tell the world we mean business and that we’ll deal with the hardships that come with it,” added Dr. Otto. “At the end of the day, it is what is best for our people, our land and our planet.”
Dr. Otto was not the only ambassador on campus that day. Sylvester Rowe, former ambassador of Sierra Leone, and his wife, Juliana, were also at Saint Peter’s where they held a discussion titled “Ethical Leadership, Governance and Social Responsibility.” Mrs. Rowe spoke first, telling the story of the Book of Esther as it relates to ethics and social responsibility. Ambassador Rowe then spoke about the concepts of ethics and social responsibility within the political and diplomatic realm.
Both events were sponsored by The Guarini Institute for Government and Leadership at Saint Peter’s University.