Marshall Islands president Hilda Heine will come to Hawaii to deliver a keynote speech at the 2019 Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics & Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) Conference. The conference will take place in Honolulu from October 31st to November 2nd.

“As one of only four atoll nations in the world, climate change is already a reality for us,” said President Heine. “The question now is whether the world can summon the leadership to urgently increase its ambition to get us on a pathway consistent with the Paris Agreement, and to avoid the worst impacts that are to come.”

President Heine’s keynote address will call on others—from heads of states to everyday citizens, especially women and communities of color—to join her and stand united in helping solve the world’s biggest challenge.

The 2019 SACNAS conference is a particularly unique and fitting setting for Heine’s message. On average, 60% of the attendees are women and 66% of the organization’s overall membership is female. The SACNAS Board of Directors also boasts a majority of female members (69%), which is significant in terms of STEM gender representation overall, as women make up only 28% of the science and engineering workforce.

The Marshall Islands want governments around the world to follow their lead in increasing their commitment to the Paris Agreement before 2020. The Marshall Islands also recently published a 2050 Climate Strategy charting a way to net-zero emissions, and is currently developing a National Adaptation Strategy.

“Together, we can fight climate change not only with access to funding and technology, but also by harnessing the power of traditional and local knowledge,” she said.