Officials in the Marshall Islands say they are doing their part to address climate change and now it's time for large countries to act.
The Director of Environmental Planning and Policy Bruce Kijiner says the Marshalls are suffering due to the effects of climate change.
Mr Kijiner says parts of the land are now underwater, underground wells are being tainted by salt, people are having to move away from the shoreline and extended droughts affect the area regularly.
Earlier the President released a video to demonstrate the need for other leaders to take action for what he described as a full-blown climate emergency.
Mr Kijiner says action is needed.
"Like today, not tomorrow and not next week, today. We've done what we can from our end. Although we don't contribute anything to the pollution of the air, a miniscal amount of emissions from the Marshall Islands but we are already leading by demonstrating that we can do what we can from our end."
Mr Kijiner says the Marshall Islands government is trying to control water usage, use renewable energey sources and is working on a sustainable fishing plan.
World leaders are meeting at the UN Summit on Climate Change tomorrow.
