The island visit will seek to show Americans how conservation can help species adjust to changing climate, and book-ends Obama’s trip past year to Alaska, where he hiked on a shrinking glacier.
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Obama faces another tricky meeting when he holds talks with North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, with relations strained over strategy on Syria’s civil war and concerns about Erdogan’s crackdown on opponents after July’s failed coup.
President Obama delivers a statement on Libya in the East Room of the White House.
It’s a remote destination for Air Force One – the tiny dot of an island is a three-hour flight northwest of Honolulu, surrounded by a vast expanse of ocean. With Obama’s move, the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument spans 582,578 square miles – roughly four times the size of California and an expansion from its original size by around 442,760 square miles.
Two-dozen bird species, including the black-footed albatross and red-footed booby, occupy the island, as well as dozens of coral reef-dwelling fish in the surrounding water. More than 7,000 marine species, including whales and sea turtles listed under the Endangered Species Act will be protected.
“And we’ve made the commitment to do that as soon as possible this year”, White House adviser Brian Deese told reporters at a briefing Monday, though he did not state whether Obama will sign the Paris agreement during this trip.
After pausing for a moment alone, President Barack Obama walks from the Battle of Midway Navy Memorial as he tours on Midway Atoll in the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, Thursday, Sept. 1, 2016. Former first lady Laura Bush also visited Midway during her husband’s presidency. Sea turtles have large migration and foraging ranges throughout the newly expanded Monument, which is now the largest protected area on the planet. On Wednesday, Obama visited a summit about the health of Lake Tahoe, which has been affected by high temperatures this year.
As for advice to his political successor, Obama had this to say: “I think you stay with it”.
“The fact that (American soldiers) went in even though they knew that they were going to die, it just captured my intellect and my emotions as representing the best that America really has to offer”, D’Angelo said. After Midway, Obama planned to open his final trip to Asia on Saturday with a visit to China, a chance to showcase his unlikely partnership with President Xi Jinping on global warming.
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President Barack Obama, who lands in China Saturday for his final trip as president to the key Asian power, plans to call on Beijing to exercise restraint and emphasize the benefits of adhering to worldwide norms.
