Honourable Christopher Loeak, Minister in Assistance to the President and Minister of Environment

Ms Kino Kabua, Chief Secretary

Directors of Climate Change Directorate, National Energy Office

Development Partners and Representatives

Deep Dive Project Implementation Unit

Colleagues

Ladies and Gentlemen

Iakwe and bula vinaka to you all.

On behalf of the UNDP Pacific family, it is my pleasure to warmly welcome all of you to the inception workshop of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) Deep Dive Project for the Republic of the Marshall Islands. 

First and foremost, I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the donor agency, the European Commission particularly the Governments of Spain and Germany for their commitment in supporting climate change work in RMI and specifically for this project, in accelerating implementation of the country’s NDCs.

Thank you to the European Commission and we hope to see more donor support in areas that are crucial for the future survival of low-lying atolls such as the RMI because of its unique vulnerabilities’ to climate change impacts.

I also would like to acknowledge the efforts of the RMI Government for their support in ensuring that the project is well established in the relevant offices to ensure ongoing collaboration with our office towards the successful implementation of this project.

Through this project, UNDP is supporting the RMI Governments’ ambitions of building the resilience of its people and responding to impacts of climate change.   

Strengthening integration and coordination efforts in country is at the core of this project and the importance of a multi stakeholder approach is crucial. It is pleasing to note that the Deep Dive Project also empowers and assists vulnerable groups, such as women and youth, by ensuring greater participation in climate responses.

I understand that through the NDC work in RMI, the formal coordination mechanism has now been established to ensure the country’s holistic response to climate change impacts. This NDC Deep Dive project will fund priority activities of the RMI NDC Partnership Plan aligning closely with key activities towards successful implementation of RMI’s NDC targets.

I reassure you of UNDP’s commitment to this important project and I wish you all a productive workshop. Through the collective efforts of stakeholders and partners, we are on our way to successfully implementing this project and ensuring maximum benefits to RMI.

Komol Tata.