The Minister of  Natural Resources and Environment, Toeolesulusulu Cedric Schuster believes that the United States of America pulling out of the Paris Agreement is their right and not a concern to Samoa.

US president Donald Trump announced this week that they will withdraw from the Paris Agreement and will inform the United Nations.

Toeolesulusulu said the US backing off from the Paris Agreement does not mean there will be no more funding for climate change for Samoa and the Pacific.

"There are other big donors who are part of the Paris Agreement that are helping us, the victims of climate change," Toeolesulusulu said.

"We have other goals to get worried about like pushing for ways to raise more awareness for climate change while those big donors are assisting us with funding."

Global Environment Facility (GEF) is a multilateral family of funds dedicated to confronting biodiversity loss, climate change, and pollution, and supporting land and ocean health. Its financing enables developing countries to address complex challenges and work towards international environmental goals. 

The partnership includes 186 member governments as well as civil society, Indigenous Peoples, women, and youth, with a focus on integration and inclusivity. Over the past three decades, the GEF has provided more than $26 billion in financing and mobilized $149 billion for country-driven priority projects. 

The family of funds includes the Global Environment Facility Trust Fund, Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF), Least Developed Countries(LDCF), Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF), Nagoya Protocol Implementation Fund (NPIF), and Capacity-building Initiative for Transparency Trust Fund (CBIT).

Green Climate Fund (GCF) supports a 50:50 balance between mitigation and adaptation ivestments over time in grant equivalent terms. Additionally, it intends to reserve 50 per cent of the adaptation allocation to particularly vulnerable countries like Samoa.

Toeolesulusulu said the US pulling out of the Paris Agreement means that other donor partners will step up with their funding to the Pacific and also Samoa who are the most vulnerable ones in terms of climate change.