UN General Assembly
2010

communicable diseases such as diabetes, cancer, heart disease and obesity, which the Pacific Islands Health Officers Association has declared a regional epidemic in the Pacific. We are a small country, but blessed in many ways. I reiterate that we have risen to achieve the MDGs by caring for our God-given resources. We have put in place a system domestically to conserve and preserve our terrestrial and marine biodiversity. We have also joined with our Pacific neighbours to address the health of our oceans together through the Pacific Oceanscape programme. 19 10-54959 Palau, and indeed the entire world, is connected by a web of life that is in peril. For too long, we have focused our attention primarily on commercial interests. We have abused nature and must change our thinking. We must reorient our priorities to put biodiversity and the welfare of our ecosystems first. In so doing, we can serve both our long-term commercial interests and protect the natural bounty that sustains us. One issue that symbolizes the threat to our biodiversity succinctly is the fight to conserve our