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The Republic of the Marshall Islands Climate Change Website: Focal Point
National Focal Point The Republic of the Marshall Islands Environmental Protection Authority (RMIEPA) was created in 1984, with the mandate to preserve and improve the quality of the environment. In 1987 the Authority was combined with the National Environmental Sanitation office. The EPA operates as a government funded statutory authority with ties to the Ministry of Health and Environment. Serving today as the nation’s primary agency for environmental protection, the RMIEPA’s duties encompass the areas of nature conservation, waste disposal, public sanitation, public and marine water quality monitoring and environmental education. During the years since RMI's independence, significant progress has been made in establishing regulatory programs focussing on monitoring of development activities, monitoring the quality of marine and public water systems and public sanitation. The RMIEPA is overseen by a Chairman and four members of the Authority who function as a Board. One member from Majuro represents the private sector, while the others represent government agencies. Meeting regularly with RMIEPA management staff, the Board plans and reviews program activities, informing the Minister of Health Services of all major policy and planning decisions under consideration. Daily activities are managed by a General Manager. RMIEPA has twelve permanent staff members. Based in the capital, Majuro, and with a single regional office in the other urban centre of Ebeye, the RMIEPA has the responsibility of overseeing environmental matters over considerable distances of ocean and between communities that are both geographically isolated and have little in the way of communication infrastructure. As such, most of the Authority’s activities are carried out in the larger population centres, though several recent initiatives have begun focussing on the outer islands for environmental education and establishment of conservation areas. Alongside the constraints of vast distances to be covered and limited communication, the Authority also faces numerous other challenges, which include general lack of public awareness of environmental issues and the resistance of many traditional landowners to environmental regulation that they feel impinges on their rights to use their land as they wish and undermines their traditional authority amongst the general population. The RMIEPA’s involvement in the issue of climate change began in 1994 with the commencement of its cooperation with the United States Country Studies Programme. The RMIEPA continues to be the lead agency for implementation of all climate change monitoring and response activities within the Marshall Islands through its role as the focal point for the PICCAP Programme and continuing involvement in other international cooperative efforts for monitoring sea level rise. Information on the specific climate change activities and programmes of the RMIEPA can be found on the National Activities page of this site. The text of this page draws heavily from
the State of the Environment Report for the Marshall
Islands(Crawford., M.J. 1992. Republic of the Marshall Islands National
Environmental Management Strategy. Part A State of the
Environment Report 1992. South Pacific Regional Environment Programme.
Apia, Western Samoa.) If you have any questions and comments please contact us at ypiccap@ntamar.com.  |
