Samoan climate activist Brianna Fruean believes the Pacific Islands will survive despite the United States S pulling out of the Paris Agreement. 

She said work progress may be delayed, but Pacific leaders can manage. 

"We know the big influence the US has on the world. There's the saying 'When the US sneezes the world the world catches a cold'. Their current administration's decision to pull out of the Paris Agreement will stall progress on climate on climate action but the work continues," she said.

"This happened before in 2017 when President Trump pulled out of the Paris Agreement during his first term, and our Pacific leaders continued our climate mitigation and adaptation efforts. I know that our Pacific region will continue being the climate leaders that the world needs at this time."

Trump signed an executive order on 20 January directing the United States to withdraw from the landmark Paris Climate Agreement again, dealing a blow to worldwide efforts to combat global warming and once again distancing the U.S. from its closest allies.

Trump’s action, hours after he was sworn into a second term, echoed his directive in 2017, when he announced that the U.S. would abandon the global Paris accord. The pact is aimed at limiting long-term global warming to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius) above pre-industrial levels or, failing that, keeping temperatures at least well below 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) above pre-industrial levels.

Trump also signed a letter to the United Nations indicating his intention to withdraw from the 2015 agreement, which allows nations to provide targets to cut their own emissions of greenhouse gases from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas. Those targets are supposed to become more stringent over time, with countries facing a February 2025 deadline for new individual plans. The outgoing Biden administration last month offered a plan to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by more than 60% by 2035.

The Minister of  Natural Resources and Environment, Toeolesulusulu Cedric Schuster earlier stated that it was the US' right to pull out and it should not be a concern for Samoa. He believes that the US pulling out of the agreement does not mean funding for the Pacific including Samoa to fight climate change would be impacted. 

He said the Global Environment Facility (GEF) was 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 US$26 billion in financing and mobilised US$149 billion for country-driven priority projects.