Members of the Pacific branch of the environmental organisation, WWF have travelled to the Cook Islands in an effort to improve awareness about the threat that climate change poses to the country.
The group is holding workshops with local officials after accepting an invitation from the government.
The WWF Regional Director, Dianne McFadzien, says the trip marks the beginning of a 3 year programme in the Cook Islands.
Ms McFadzien says while Cook Islanders are aware of recent changes to the climate they dont always understand that the changes are created by humans.
"Very few people have heard of the concept of climate change for example. When you start to talk to them about the types of impacts that you might expect from climate change, they're actually very aware that these kind of changes are happening to the environment they just aren't quite aware that these are human induced changes, because it's still a relatively new concept to the Cook Islands."