Teodora Čakarmiš

Working for an Intergovernmental Organization

Delegation of Palau at UNESCO

Quick fact on Palau:• Located in the West Pacific, comprised of 250 islands, with a

population of 21,000• Capital: Maleokok; Official languages: English, Palauan, and

Japanese

Economy• Industry: Tourism, craft items, construction, garment making•Agriculture: Coconuts, copra, cassava (tapioca), sweet potatoes•Exports: Shellfish, tuna, copra, garments

Climate change•Directly and imminently affected by ocean warming and

acidification (coral reefs are seriously threatened!)• Palau is highly dependent on fishing and preservation of marine

biodiversity• Shark poaching and overfishing more generally puts the country in

an extremely vulnerable position

Mitigation efforts• Creation of the ‘no take’ reserve which encompasses 193,000

square miles, where all export fishing is forbidden in 2015• Government prohibition of commercial shark fishing in its waters,

establishment of the world’s first shark sanctuary in 2009.

Summer InternshipGlobal Development StudiesProf. Montgomory Roper

Resposabilites/ActivitiesMission of the Delegation: •Giving visibility to the plight of Pacific nations and establishing

strategic partnerships (diplomatic and other) to better represent Small Island Developing States

Responsibilities• Internal correspondence and office management - writing memos,

attending meetings, sending diplomatic notes, editing briefing reports, etc.•External outreach – forming partnerships in the private and public

sector, as well as academia – collaborated extensively with Volvo Ocean Race, Disney France, Foundation Cousteau, European Feminist Initiative, Royal Air Maroc, and Sciences Po University

Activities•Event organizing: launch of the book ’Palau and its Neighbors in

the Pacific’ in the Assemblée Nationale; World Oceans Day – June 8th – exhibition in collaboration with the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, Foundation Cousteau and the Swedish Delegation• Debriefing after the Paris Agreement, development of new

implementation strategies, and preparation for the negotiation at the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convetion on Climate Change