HOUSTON, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- The Asian Development Bank selected an Australian subsidiary of U.S. engineering company KBR to study climate change in the Pacific, the company said.
Australia's Infrastructure and Minerals was selected to carry out a series of climate change studies that will help Pacific island nations adapt to environmental threats.
Colin Elliott, president of the Australian subsidiary of KBR, said the deal puts his company "at the forefront" of the emerging field of climate adaptation studies.
The project involves KBR giving the governments of East Timor, Fiji, Marshall Islands, Palau and Solomon Islands the tools they need to better identify, manage and mitigate possible environmental threats, the company said.
The KBR studies target how best to respond to rising sea levels.
The governments of tiny island nations in the Pacific worry that their future is in danger because most of the more than 1,000 islands in the region are barely 6-feet above sea level.
