Palau's representative at the United Nations, Stuart Beck, says Pacific Small Island Developing States want the Security Council to take action over climate change.
He told the General Assembly that for the first time in the history of the world, we are contemplating the loss of states through the effects of sea level rise.
Mr Beck says only the Security Council has the extraordinary powers to deal with such threats.
He issued a challenge to the Council to creatively use its powers to develop enforceable emissions targets, and to give teeth to what is now an ineffectual voluntary process.
