Gilbert and Ellice Islands the latitude of 5° to 10° south and longitude of 176° to 180°, west of the International Date Line. The Ellice Islands are midway between Hawaii and Australia. The Ellice Islands are recognised as part of the Polynesia subregion of Oceania. In 1606 Pedro Fernandes de Queirós sighted Butaritari and Makin, which he named the Buen Viaje (‘good trip’ in Spanish) Islands. The Gilbert Islands were named in 1820 by a Russian Admiral, Baron Johann von Krusenstern, after a British captain, Thomas Gilbert, who encountered the archipelago in 1788 while exploring an Outer Passage route from Port Jackson to Canton.
45th Pacific Islands Forum rising sea levels and sinking islands in the Pacific Ocean. He stated that the solution to the problem of rising seas as well as ocean warming and acidification is the reduction of CO2 emissions. Pacific islands leaders plan to produce a follow-up to the Majuro Declaration, which was passed at the 44th Pacific Islands Forum with the support of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat Tuiloma Neroni Slade commended Remengesau for the choice of theme, noting "it is a theme that is most timely with considerable strategic significance in the lead up to