Federated States of Micronesia, 2008

I am honoured by this

opportunity to address the General Assembly at its

sixty-third session. This great institution plays a vital

role in the development process of its members and

remains the global organization best situated to address

the world’s pressing needs and to help find solutions

for them. So, it is with pleasure that I use this occasion

to make the following remarks on a few challenging

issues of vital significance confronting Micronesia

today.

I must first congratulate His Excellency

Mr. Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann on his election to the

presidency of the Assembly. He has my delegation’s

admiration and full support. In the same vein, I

commend the dedication and stewardship of Mr. Srgjan

Kerim, President of the Assembly at its sixty-second

session.

I wish to offer my greetings to our able Secretary-

General and to express the best wishes of my

Government as he continues to lead the Organization

through the difficult challenges ahead.

The General Assembly is meeting at a time of

unusual uncertainties surrounding the global economy.

The world financial situation and the double threat

posed by the fuel and food crises impose additional

strain on all of us and negatively impact our efforts to

achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

and our pursuit of sustainable development. The

security of our island countries remains under threat by

the effects of climate change.

The fuel crisis is a major challenge to the

Members of this Organization. There are few countries

in this world that are left unscathed by the worldwide

fuel crises. Too often, I am afraid, those most affected

by the crisis are those Members of the United Nations

that can least afford an effective response. More often

than not, they are the small island developing States

that are also the most vulnerable Members of this

Organization.

The developed countries may have room to

respond to the worsening energy crisis without

jeopardizing other development programmes. But for

us in Micronesia, we are painfully aware of the strong

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and adverse impacts on everything from government

operations to the effect on individual households and

families.

In a very real sense, the lingering global energy

crisis has transformed the energy debate and

highlighted the world’s dependence on fossil fuel.

Power outages in our state centres have become a

regular phenomenon affecting our medical facilities,

schools, businesses and everyday government

operations, including services to our remote outer

islands, which are reachable only by ships. These

setbacks are the result of our inability to procure fuel at

a reasonable cost. While we recognize that fossil fuel

will, in the medium term, remain a necessity, the

current energy crisis strengthens Micronesia’s resolve

to call for the acceleration of the development of

technologies for renewable and affordable sources of

energy. Micronesia recognizes that special assistance

from the international community and financial

institutions in the area of renewable energy is

necessary to achieve this goal. We are grateful to our

friends that have over time generously extended

assistance to that end.

The General Assembly, by its own resolutions,

recognizes everyone’s right to food. On a global scale,

that right is being threatened as the world faces a

severe food crisis. Already, the cost of imported

foodstuffs has increased considerably, and my

Government and people are thus faced with yet another

development challenge — one that has already been

exacerbated by the energy crisis. The cost of rice, one

of the main imported foodstuffs, which has become a

main staple in my people’s diet, is no longer

affordable. My Government, in responding to the food

crisis, has encouraged the people to increase the local

production of our own crops. But that cannot be

achieved without the support and cooperation of our

development partners and the United Nations system.

The nexus between food security and climate

change cannot be overlooked. In Micronesia, farmlands

and inhabitants occupy the low-lying fringes and

islands barely a few metres above sea level. Taro

patches, which provided the main staple of our people

for centuries, are now under threat by sea level rise.

Already, many islands have experienced inundation of

their taro patches and fields of other food crops by salt

water, resulting in decreased crop production.

Of equal importance to our self-sufficiency and in

meeting some of our nutritional needs is the bounty of

our ocean. The ocean is of fundamental importance to

Micronesia, as we rely heavily on it. The ocean

sustains us, and its resources enrich us. At a time when

the world food market is deeply affected by the food

crisis, Micronesians are increasingly dependent on the

bounty of the sea to provide for their food and for their

economic development. It is therefore of paramount

importance that we continue to conserve and manage

sustainably the use of our marine and fisheries

resources. But collateral catches and discards in

commercial fisheries remain a concern to us. For

Micronesians, these are critical resources that are of

cultural importance, and our people depend upon them

for their subsistence living. The international

community must help us find ways to minimize and

eliminate this wasteful use of resources.

Equally damaging to fish stocks is the incidence

of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

This practice continues to deprive our people of their

food resources, while the illegal operators continue to

reap and enjoy the rewards from this activity without

any accountability. The major consumer and market

outlets must reduce this illegal activity if we are to

effectively eliminate this abhorrent and unsustainable

practice.

The world’s financial turbulence, as evidenced by

the current delicate situation in the host country, is

another matter of concern. While the situation

emanates from the bigger economies, all of us are at

risk, as we are all part of the globalized economy. We

encourage the developed countries not to use this as a

convenient excuse to reverse their gains in reaching the

agreed target of 0.7 per cent of their gross domestic

product for official development assistance.

My delegation is encouraged by the spirit and

determination of the Members of the United Nations to

bring Security Council reform a step closer to reality.

Our task remains difficult, but we are encouraged by

the recent decision of the General Assembly and look

forward to the beginning of the process of

intergovernmental negotiations. Among other things,

we reiterate our support for the expansion of both

membership categories and reaffirm our long-standing

view that Japan and India, from the Asian Group,

should become permanent members of a reformed

Security Council. We also renew our support for

Germany, from Western Europe.

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In the attainment of the international

development goals, there is no single issue that

presents such an enormous challenge to small island

developing States, such as the Federated States of

Micronesia, than that of climate change. Micronesia is

especially concerned about climate change and the

grave threat of sea-level rise, which can literally wash

away our islands and culture. Three recent articles have

been published in the prestigious science journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,

addressing the tipping points for abrupt climate

change, including sea-level rise.

A tipping point is a point of no return beyond

which an element of the climate system abruptly tips

into a new state, with a profound impact on the planet.

Examples include tipping points for the melting of

glaciers and snow pack from the Tibetan Plateau — the

headwaters of most of the rivers in Asia — and the

disintegration of the Greenland and West Antarctica ice

sheets, which will cause metres of sea-level rise.

The news is startling. Simply put, it means that

the planet is in peril — and the islands and low-lying

States are, of course, in peril. But we cannot afford to

be paralysed. We must undertake an aggressive

programme of fast-track mitigation strategies, starting

with those that are already justified by their strong

co-benefits. This includes the strategy Micronesia

promoted last year and again this year to strengthen the

Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the

Ozone Layer. Our strategy can play a strong role in

protecting the climate system as well as the

stratospheric ozone layer.

Let me make one final suggestion. Tipping points

for abrupt climate change have been called the shadow

that haunts climate negotiations. This issue is a shadow

because it has never been squarely addressed by the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The global debate on climate change is

predominantly framed from a sustainable development

perspective. We could not agree more with that focus.

But Micronesia is convinced that, while sustainable

development is of paramount importance, we must also

be assured of our security and our territorial integrity.

We must approach climate change from a holistic

perspective rather than limiting it to the dimensions of

sustainable development, to humanitarian or technical

issues, or to economic or environmental issues.

Climate change also has an impact on our human

rights. It has an impact on international peace and on

our own security and territorial integrity, and on our

very existence as inhabitants of very small and

vulnerable island nations.

Experts have warned that climate change is also a

threat to international peace and security. Yet, instead

of addressing the issue squarely, the United Nations

seems to be more concerned about turf and

encroachment, as if it were wrong to admit that

territorial integrity, national stability and security

might be threatened by the impact of climate change,

and that human conflicts might also arise as a direct or

indirect result of climate change. Just as the IPCC

reports, the Stern Review report and the 2007 Human

Development Report inform the negotiations in the

context of the United Nations Framework Convention

on Climate Change, a report analysing the potential

impact of climate change on international peace and

security should provide additional reasons for urgent

and adequate climate change mitigation actions.

Our future — our environment — is at stake. Our

culture and our human rights are at stake. But we must

not lose hope, because the entire world is represented

here. The time to act is now, not later.