Palau has a history of strong environment conservation. For example,\u00a0Ngerukewid islands and the surrounding area are protected under the Ngerukewid Islands Wildlife Preserve, which was established in 1956.<\/p>\n
While much of Palau remains free of environmental degradation, areas of concern include illegal\u00a0dynamite fishing, inadequate\u00a0solid waste disposal\u00a0facilities in\u00a0Koror\u00a0and extensive\u00a0sand\u00a0and\u00a0coral\u00a0dredging\u00a0in the Palau\u00a0lagoon. As with other Pacific island nations,\u00a0rising sea level\u00a0presents a major environmental threat. However, according to the Emissions Database for\u00a0Global Atmospheric Research\u00a0average\u00a0carbon dioxide emissions per person were 58 tonnes in 2018, the highest in the world and mostly from transport.\u00a0Inundation of low-lying areas threatens coastal\u00a0vegetation,\u00a0agriculture, and an already insufficient\u00a0water supply.\u00a0Wastewater treatment\u00a0is a problem, along with the handling of\u00a0toxic waste\u00a0from\u00a0fertilizers\u00a0and\u00a0biocides.<\/p>\n
Saltwater crocodiles\u00a0are also indigenous to Palau and occur in varying numbers throughout the various\u00a0mangroves\u00a0and in parts of the rock islands. Although this\u00a0species is generally considered extremely dangerous, there has only been one fatal human attack in Palau within modern history, and that was in the 1960s. In Palau, the largest crocodile measured 4.5 meters (14\u00a0ft 9\u00a0in).<\/p>\n
The nation is also vulnerable to\u00a0earthquakes,\u00a0volcanic activity, and\u00a0tropical storms. Palau already has a problem with inadequate\u00a0water supply\u00a0and limited\u00a0agricultural areas\u00a0to support its\u00a0population.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Palau has a history of strong environment conservation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":919,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0},"categories":[15],"tags":[18],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/consulateofpalau.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/consulateofpalau.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/consulateofpalau.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/consulateofpalau.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/consulateofpalau.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/consulateofpalau.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/consulateofpalau.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/consulateofpalau.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/consulateofpalau.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/consulateofpalau.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}