Minister from islands facing extinction is one of few delegates directly calling out Trump’s climate policies
Of all the representatives from 193 countries present at the crucial UN climate talks in Belém, Brazil, only one has summoned the courage to take the stage and publicly denounce the absent and hostile Trump administration: the climate minister of tiny Tuvalu.
On Monday, Maina Vakafua Talia told leaders and diplomats at the Cop30 summit that Donald Trump had shown a “shameful disregard for the rest of the world” by withdrawing the US from the Paris climate agreement.
At a gathering where Trump has loomed large despite refusing to send a US delegation, Talia’s public rebuke is in stark contrast to mostly private murmurings from delegations aghast at attempts by the US to halt climate action but wary of potential retribution from the White House.
“We can’t remain silent while our islands are sinking. We can’t remain silent while our people are suffering,” Talia said. Tuvalu is a nation of atolls and reef islands in the south Pacific and is considered acutely vulnerable to sea level rise and fiercer storms caused by the climate crisis.
