The Majuro Declaration, a plan of action put together by the fifteen-nation Pacific Island Forum (PIF) to aggressively combat climate change, greenhouse gas emissions and the rise of sea levels, gained major support this month with the agreement of the United States to support the Declaration and its goals.

Image: via news24.com

The United States also announced a new climate change fund of $24 million over the next five years for projects in “vulnerable coastal communities” in the Pacific.

U.S. support of the Majuro Declaration is good news, and an acknowledgement on an international level that, as stated by US Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, “climate change is the defining challenge of our time.”

However, I have a hard time reconciling this U.S. pledge and the $24 million amount with the support by the same government of increased development of greenhouse-gas emitting fuels, especially through fracking, as well as subsidies and investments ongoing fossil fuel extraction and distribution, which still greatly exceed subsidies and support for alternative fuels.

Estimated U.S. subsidies and support for fossil fuels 2002-2008. Post-2008 attempts to reduce subsidies have rarely been successful.
Credit: Environmental Law Institute

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Read more about the Majuro Declaration here.