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Pacific makes renewed pleas for Trump to change climate change stance

 Donald Trump  [Photo: AFP via RNZI]

Pacific Island countries have renewed their calls for US president-elect Donald Trump to reconsider his stance on climate change.

Mr Trump, who is set to take office on Friday, dismissed climate change as a hoax during his election campaign and vowed to pull the United States out of the Paris climate agreement.

The foreign secretary of the Federated States of Micronesia, which is the current chair of the Pacific Islands Forum, reiterated his country's hopes that Mr Trump changes his view on climate change.

Speaking to a news conference in Tokyo, where Pacific Islands Forum ministers are meeting with Japanese leaders this week, Lorin Robert said climate change is the greatest threat to Pacific Island countries.

Australia's Daily Mail reports British climate change scientists as asking the British Prime Minister Theresa May to press Mr Trump to acknowledge climate change risks and support international action to slow global warming.

The countries taking part in the Tokyo meeting include the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.