Climate change was a growing threat to Palau's people and myriad rare species, he said.

But Palau said it would not join Tuvalu in a planned lawsuit against the United States and Australia over greenhouse gas emissions blamed for rising temperatures.

Palau has “freely associated” state status with the United States and receives millions of dollars of American aid through this.

“We’re putting our hopes in the international community coming to its senses,” President Remengesau said in a report from Johannesburg received from Reuters news agency.

“For island states it’s a matter of life and death,” he said of scientists’ warnings that polar ice caps could melt and swamp low-lying states. “For us it’s not just sustainability, it’s survival.”