Grenada, 2007

I am honoured to join

previous delegations in congratulating the President on

his election as President of this Assembly at its sixty-

second session. Let me assure him of Grenada’s

unconditional support as he guides our important and

crucial deliberations towards a fruitful and tangible

conclusion.

I also take this opportunity to pay tribute to Mrs.

Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa, who laboured tirelessly

during her presidency of the Assembly at its sixty-first

session, and to her timely and productive initiatives. In

addition, my delegation would like to renew its support

to the Secretary-General in his endeavour to advance

the agenda of the United Nations and to make it more

effective.

In his opening remarks to this General Assembly

the President identified five areas as our priorities:

climate change, economic development, the

Millennium Development Goals, terrorism and United

Nations reform. Grenada salutes that vision in

recognizing the critical issues facing our world today,

and it is through this lens that I would like to project

the views of my country.

On the question of climate change, we applaud

the Secretary-General for convening the recently

concluded High-level Event on Climate Change, and

we are satisfied that this will provide the stimulus and

momentum required for the forthcoming negotiations

in Bali. Indeed, for this sixty-second session, my

delegation welcomes the tremendous emphasis being

placed on climate change and, based on the statements

made thus far, we are heartened to note the

overwhelming commitment to preparing a better world

for our future generations.

The recently concluded event was not our first

attempt. Climate change was also addressed in Rio de

Janeiro, Barbados and Mauritius. It seems that we are

blessed with a penchant for songs of praise in this

multilateral temple of commitment and sacrifice. The

chorus of our voices reverberates loudly in these halls

of wisdom, only to sound a hollow note as we exit the

archways of these chambers and backslide into reality.

As in all of these conferences, the real challenge that

we face is to convert what seems like a religious

fervour into good deeds in the neighbourhood of our

global village. As we preach, so too must we become

converts. Let us move from resolutions to results.

As we head towards Bali, we must craft a

negotiating table that extends well beyond the

dimensions of the intergovernmental process. That

table must have seats for the unborn generations, as

well as seats for this generation wishing to taste the

social and economic prosperity of a new world order.

Because of sea-level rise, we in the small island

States face the spectre of environmental refugees and

our people are already being displaced. For example,

the Maldives with its 1,900 islands, that country has

undertaken significant expenditure building sea

defences and in creating safe zone resettlements for its

people.

The low-lying islands and countries of the world

deserve a far more robust and accountable response

from the international community. In that regard, we

welcome the investigation in the Maldives of the

human dimensions of climate change.

As Grenada knows so well, the effects of climate

change represent the most dangerous threat to the

economic development, peace and security and

territorial existence of small island States. We therefore

welcome the efforts of the British Mission here in New

York, which has worked ceaselessly to raise awareness

and understanding of the threat posed by climate

change, echoing the very concerns that many small

States and low-lying coastal nations have raised over

the last 15 years.

In fact, one thing that has become painfully clear

to Grenada is how easily in the blink of an eye

an entire country can be flattened. In our case, it was

the eye of Hurricane Ivan. Hurricanes and cyclones are

appearing in unusual latitudes and with greater

ferocity. They are appearing further south in the

Atlantic, affecting islands like Grenada, and they are

appearing further north in the Indian Ocean and hit the

Seychelles for the first time in 50 years. Just this

summer we have seen two category five hurricanes,

Dean and Felix, make landfall in the Caribbean within

two weeks of each other, causing loss of lives and

hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.

In Grenada’s case, the destruction was twice its

gross domestic product. However, with the help of

God, the resilience of the Grenadian people, the help

from our Caribbean and international friends including

the United States of America, and with the leadership

of my Prime Minister, we continue our aspirations to

build back better. In that regard, I would like to pay

special tribute to the People’s Republic of China,

whose generous assistance and commitment to our

development have been greatly appreciated by the

Government and the people of Grenada. Because of

their help, Grenada was able to host Cricket World Cup

2007 at our new stadium, which was financed and

constructed by the People’s Republic of China.

Despite all concerted efforts, climate change has

led to a downward assessment of our sovereign credit

rating and Grenada is now under the guidance of the

International Monetary Fund. Grenada cannot borrow

money on the international market to replant its

nutmeg, to mend its coastal infrastructure, or to

upgrade its tourism industry. As a result, we have

imposed a reconstruction levy on our people, at a time

when global energy and food prices are increasing. The

economic burden of global warming is hitting the

pockets of ordinary women and men in the streets of

Grenada, the poor farmer, the hardworking teacher and

the waiters and waitresses in our hotels. Those ordinary

island citizens are paying the price for the lifestyles of

the major emitters.

A new paradigm is needed within the United

Nations system and the Bretton Woods institutions.

Within that paradigm must lie an understanding that

small island developing States have an environmental

and economic vulnerability that warrants a new set of

metrics, a new set of rules and a new level of support.

As we head towards a post-2012 agreement, we

need aggressive mitigation targets. Those targets are

critical for us, because sea temperature rise is already

causing bleaching of the coastal reefs. Loss of those

ecosystems has a harmful impact on fish stocks, one of

our main sources of protein and foreign exchange.

The Caribbean Community Climate Change

Centre has said that a further one degree temperature

rise will lead to significant loss of tuna and dolphin

stocks. And to compound the matter, in Mauritius and

the Seychelles, tuna stocks are diving deeper seeking

cooler waters. In recent years, the fish catch has

dwindled and revenues have diminished. To alleviate

those problems, more investment is now needed in new

studies, as well as in fishing technologies, equipment

and practices.

As we approach the Bali meeting, Grenada

reiterates its position, articulated by the Alliance of

Small Island States, that the viability and adaptability

of the most vulnerable, such as small island developing

States, must be the fundamental benchmark against

which all negotiations are framed. In the efforts to

mitigate climate change, no nation must be left behind.

Let that be our guiding principle, if we are to make

meaningful progress in Bali.

While these negotiations are ongoing, my country

and many other islands and low-lying countries are

taking all necessary steps to cushion the fallouts and

dislocations. Adaptation funding and funding for

economic development are almost indivisible.

Grenada calls for the urgent completion of the

institutional arrangements for the Adaptation Fund, in a

manner that guarantees that priority should be given to

the needs of the small island developing States. On the

question of the Global Environmental Facility, we

welcome the energy, enthusiasm and flexibility of its

new Chief Executive Officer. We are, however,

disappointed with the implications of the Resource

Allocation Framework. Nonetheless, we look forward

to strengthening the working relationship with the

Facility following reforms that make it more

responsive to the needs of small island States.

Climate change, energy, economic development

and the Millennium Development Goals are so tightly

interwoven that over the long term, we cannot tease out

any one thread without weakening the fabric of our

common aspirations for prosperity and peace.

It is well known that women are the most affected

by poverty and suffer the highest levels of

marginalization. As the United Nations continues its

study of the issue of gender architecture and the

general advancement of women, Grenada sees the

empowerment of women as being critical for our own

development. We therefore urge other States to

contribute to the many bodies of the United Nations

that promote and seek to secure avenues for women in

the development process. Let us contribute to their

budgets and not to their demise; for even if only a few

benefit, that sets the stage for others to follow. In our

view, the advancement of women represents a most

powerful force for social and economic progress.

Investment in gender mainstreaming is an investment

in social justice, economic diversity and political

stability.

The United Nations must lead by example.

Guided by the tenets of the Millennium Development

Goals, Grenada is working assiduously to improve the

status of women. Several years ago only a few women

held high political or other public offices in Grenada,

but today we are proud to report that approximately 50

per cent of the Cabinet of our executive branch is made

up of women and that many others hold top positions

within the public service.

The challenge facing the vulnerable States of the

world can be resolved only if we ourselves transform

our thinking and reform our methodologies. For that

reason, we support the revitalization of the General

Assembly. My delegation joins the call for the

expansion of the membership of the Security Council

in both categories to allow for a Council more

representative of the 192 States and five regions which

it represents. That way we can achieve much in

assembling a stronger and more powerful Council

which will be better able to fulfil its mandate in a fair,

just and transparent manner.

Grenada, as small as it is, has the honour to

highlight its humble but valuable contribution to the

securing of stability in Haiti. This year Grenada has

increased its deployment of police personnel to the

United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti. We

encourage others to give whatever support they can, no

matter how minute, to the efforts of international

peacekeeping initiatives. We are, however, hopeful that

very soon our unit and others like it will no longer be

needed.

In closing, I must indicate that despite the

challenges I have outlined relating to our economic

viability and territorial integrity, we still have to pay

close attention to terrorism and other threats to world

peace and security. Grenada therefore remains steadfast

in its commitment to the international community to

fight terrorism in all its forms and to ensure that the

seeds of that poisonous weed never take root on our

shores. Grenada is convinced that a free and

democratic world is our best hope and therefore

pledges its full support towards the betterment of lives

worldwide. I call on all nations, big and small, rich and

poor, to contribute even more to that noble task.

We are all obviously singing from the same song

sheet. Let us harmonize the sound of our voices to

amplify action for the citizens of our world. It must

echo triumphantly across the generations, so that when

it is replayed with fidelity to our children and our

grandchildren they will listen with dignity, and not

with disdain.