Kiribati, 2008

I bring warm

greetings from the Government and the people of the

Republic of Kiribati, on whose behalf I am honoured to

address this body this morning. Let me, at the outset,

congratulate Mr. D’Escoto Brockmann on his election

to the presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-

third session. I am confident that he will provide

efficient and effective leadership in guiding this

session towards a productive and concrete outcome for

all. I would also like to thank his predecessor for his

able and effective leadership during the past session. I

should also like to acknowledge the election of

Solomon Islands as a Vice-President of the General

Assembly at this session. We are indeed very proud to

have a Pacific brother in that position.

Every year, we come together as citizens of the

international community to reflect on and discuss

possible solutions to the daunting challenges that

continue to face us individually and collectively.

Climate change and sea level rise, environmental

protection, food and fuel price increases and achieving

the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are

among the challenges that I wish to focus on, in the

interests of time and brevity.

For many years, we have tirelessly appealed to

the Organization to do something about climate change

and to provide solutions for those seriously affected by

its detrimental impact, especially those whose very

existence is being threatened. Those appeals have

failed to produce practical solutions for people living

in low-lying small island developing States like

Kiribati. While the members of the international

community continue to point fingers at each other

regarding responsibility for and leadership on that

issue, our people continue to experience the impact of

climate change and sea-level rise and practical

solutions continue to elude us.

The science on climate change is irrefutable. The

fourth assessment report of the Intergovernmental

Panel on Climate Change projected an increase in sea

level of 0.4 metres within this century. While that may

sound minimal to most, it is quite alarming for low-

lying small island developing States like Kiribati,

whose elevation is no more than two metres above sea

level and whose main source of water is underground

aquifers. Before our islands are inundated by the rising

sea, saltwater intrusion into our freshwater lens will

render the islands uninhabitable. With the projected

sea-level rise, Kiribati could be looking at 50 to

60 years before that happens. Presented with those

findings, we have had to adopt a pragmatic approach

and to formulate options for our people. We do so with

a great deal of regret and a deep sense of frustration.

Mitigation and adaptation strategies are and will

continue to be integral components of our response to

climate change. It would indeed be naive to suggest

otherwise. Those strategies provide only short- and

medium-term solutions. Ultimately, low-lying island

countries like Kiribati will have to face up to the

reality of their islands being unable to support life and

to plan accordingly beyond existing adaptation strategies.

Kiribati is not a major emitter of greenhouse

gases. Its mitigation efforts would therefore have an

insignificant impact on the global climate change

situation. Nevertheless, we will do our part and explore

appropriate renewable and efficient energy technologies,

as well as promote replanting in our islands.

While we also require adaptation strategies, our

adaptation options are extremely limited, particularly

given the nature of our islands. We are a country of

low-lying coral atolls, with most islands rising no more

than two metres above sea level. Coastal protection

through seawall construction is the main adaptation

measure currently being undertaken by the Government,

but it is limited to the protection of public

infrastructure. We simply do not have the resources to

extend protection to private properties and assets.

Adaptation measures, such as moving inland and to

higher ground, are impractical for us. We cannot move

further inland due to the narrowness of our islands, nor

is there any higher ground to which we can escape

from the rising seas.

It is encouraging indeed to follow the emergence

of many climate change initiatives. It gives us hope to

see that humankind is beginning to do the right thing.

We have been following developments on those fronts.

I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge

Australia’s commitment to the Kyoto Protocol and its

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recent announcement of its climate change programme.

New Zealand has also announced its pledge to increase

financial support for climate change. We also welcome

Japan’s Cool Earth Promotion Programme and the

European Union’s Global Climate Change Alliance,

which support practical measures to address the

impacts of climate change in the Pacific island

countries.

The report of the Intergovernmental Panel on

Climate Change also states that the concentration of

greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere will

continue the momentum of climate change, regardless

of any substantial reduction in greenhouse gas

emissions and mitigation efforts. That effectively

means that low-lying small island developing countries

like Kiribati are on the frontlines of the climate change

calamity. Mitigation efforts therefore will not be able

to reverse our situation — a situation that we have

recently acknowledged and to which my Government

has provided a long-term strategy for our people’s

future and survival.

At the previous session of the Assembly, a

question was raised regarding what we are to do when

people start fleeing their countries, not because of

political persecution but because of environmental

catastrophe. That is the question that I want to put

forward as a challenge to this session, and to which I

wish to provide a possible answer, at least from the

perspective of a country whose very existence is under

serious threat. The relocation of the 100,000 people of

Kiribati, for example, is not something that can be

done overnight. It requires long-term forward planning.

The sooner we act, the less stressful and the less

painful it will be for all concerned.

That is why my Government has developed a

long-term merit-based relocation strategy as an option

for our people. As leaders, it is indeed our duty to the

people we serve to prepare them for the worst-case

scenario. The strategy involves upgrading the skills of

our people to make them competitive and marketable

in international labour markets. We want to target

labour markets where skills or labour gaps exist and

provide labour for them. We believe that offers a win-

win situation for all. We will be able to provide

countries with labour and those countries will be able

to provide potential new homes for our people. The

strategy provides our people with an option so that

when they choose to migrate, they will migrate on

merit and with dignity. We hope that they will be

received by their adoptive countries not as burdens or

refugees, but as worthwhile members of the community

with something to contribute.

We have already started implementing that

strategy and we are indeed encouraged by, and grateful

for, the support for that approach among our regional

partners in the Pacific. Under its Pacific Access

Category Scheme, New Zealand randomly picks a

certain number of people from certain Pacific island

countries, including Kiribati, to migrate to New

Zealand every year. Recently, Australia launched the

Australia Pacific Technical College, which aims at

training Pacific people with Australian standard

qualifications that will allow them to access regional

and international labour markets. The bilateral Kiribati-

Australia Nursing Initiative is another example of a

programme that supports that long-term strategy. We

welcome them all indeed.

At the regional level, in August, the leaders of the

Pacific Islands Forum adopted the Niue Declaration on

Climate Change. That is a reflection of our concerted

regional efforts to respond to the adverse impacts of

climate change, which have been severely felt across

our region. As the first-ever high-level climate

document in our part of the world, the Declaration is

indeed a milestone. It calls for collective efforts to

fight the growing threat posed by climate change to

many aspects of our lives and to our future as nations.

At the international level, we have been

following closely the issues currently taking

precedence on the United Nations agenda. It is indeed

most gratifying to note that climate change is finally

being given due recognition as a security issue. We

welcome that development, as we believe that it is time

the United Nations focused its attention on the human

dimension of climate change. Discussions about carbon

trading, the post-Kyoto Protocol era and even concerns

over the future of polar bears have been, or are being,

held. We welcome those discussions but, at the same

time, we wish to express our deep concern that there

has never been any discussion of the fate of humans,

whose very existence is being seriously undermined by

climate change.

That is the challenge that I propose that this body,

the President and the Secretary-General address during

this session. In that connection, I commend to the

Assembly the draft resolution on climate change as a

security issue and a threat to international peace and

21 08-51845

security. My colleagues from the Pacific have already

alluded to it, and I commend them for their support. I

also wish to applaud the excellent efforts by our Pacific

ambassadors in New York, as well as their leadership

on the draft resolution. I am also grateful to those who

have supported the draft resolution so far, as well as

those who we hope will do so in the future. We in the

Pacific have been strong supporters of the fight against

terrorism. We now turn to those with whom we have

partnered in the fight against terrorism to partner with

us in our fight against climate change.

Kiribati is proud to be home to the Phoenix

Islands Protected Area, the largest marine protected

area in the world. That was the result of a collaborative

effort and partnership between Kiribati, the New

England Aquarium and Conservation International. The

Phoenix Islands Protected Area covers an area of

around 410,500 square kilometres, making it, for now,

the planet’s largest marine protected area. The Area

covers over 11 per cent of our extensive exclusive

economic zone of over 3 million square kilometres,

while the land comprising the Area is over 3.5 per cent

of the total land mass of Kiribati.

The Phoenix Islands are some of the most

isolated islands on Earth and are largely untouched by

man. In 2002, the countries of the world made a

commitment to significantly reduce the current rate of

biodiversity loss by 2010. Our declaration of the Area

is in part a contribution towards meeting that target, as

well as a statement by which we are saying that

sacrifices must and can be made.

The preservation of those islands and the

surrounding ocean is our gift to humankind, of which

we are a part. Even now, as we confront the possibility

that our islands will become uninhabitable within the

century due to the rising sea levels, we recognize the

value of protecting something that we believe to be the

common heritage of us all. I take this opportunity to

acknowledge the invaluable support and contribution

of the New England Aquarium and Conservation

International, our partners in this endeavour. We invite

Governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental

organizations, members of the private sector and

individuals to join us in this worthwhile and ambitious

initiative.

The recent hike in food and fuel prices is being

felt by all, but more acutely by those living in drought-

prone, resource-poor and infertile small island

developing States like Kiribati, who as a consequence

depend highly on imported food. Our isolation from

major markets means that the cost of transporting food

items to our country is becoming more and more

expensive. In addition, the cost of providing basic

services to our people, who live on widely scattered

islands, is also becoming a real challenge for all of us

in similar situations.

We acknowledge the ability of certain members

of the Organization to address this global challenge.

We appeal to them to assist the most vulnerable

members, such as Kiribati, with their food and energy

security strategies. In that regard, we acknowledge

with appreciation the assistance provided to our energy

security strategy by our development partners,

including Japan and Korea.

With regard to graduation from the list of least

developed countries, the Committee for Development

Policy will meet early next year to prepare the 2009

review of countries that are deemed eligible to

graduate under the methodology and indicators of the

United Nations. Kiribati is one of three least developed

countries of the Pacific — the others being Tuvalu and

Vanuatu — being considered for graduation. We

believe there are pertinent issues that warrant proper

consideration by the United Nations with regard to this

process.

One is the issue of the extreme economic

vulnerability of small island developing States. Current

indicators focus on improved performance on per

capita income and human assets. Due consideration

should be accorded to the special economic

vulnerability to external shocks such as rising world

food and fuel prices.

While it is not currently a graduation indicator,

we believe that environmental vulnerability should be

taken into account when considering the cases of small

island developing States such as Kiribati, Tuvalu and

Vanuatu, which are among the most vulnerable to the

impact of climate change and extreme weather

events — which, in turn, pose major challenges to their

sustainable development efforts.

In that connection, I wish to commend my Pacific

colleagues who have advocated the need to reform the

application of the rule of graduation. We reiterate that

call and urge the United Nations to reconsider the

graduation rule in the light of the special economic

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situation and the vulnerability of those island nations

to climate change and external shocks.

On the Millennium Development Goals, many of

my fellow members will be familiar with, and share,

the genuine desire to promote the development

aspirations of our peoples, which is our priority. Even

with our limited capacity, we are committed to the

implementation of the Millennium Development Goals.

In that regard, I am pleased to report that Kiribati has

launched its first report on the Millennium Development

Goals.

The report outlines weaknesses and strengths in

the overall development efforts and in meeting the

MDGs. We believe that we are on track with our

progress on most of the Goals, but we also admit that

we are behind on some of them. The main reason for

that is the lack of data to measure our progress so far

and our limited resources to implement strategies

aimed at achieving the Goals. We will continue to exert

efforts in meeting the targeted Goals by 2015. At this

time, I wish to express our deep appreciation to our

development partners, who have accompanied us on

this journey and have contributed meaningfully to the

realization of our development aspirations.

While we commend the United Nations for the

many initiatives put forward in addressing the needs of

its Members, it is regrettable that it has continued to

deny the 23 million people of Taiwan equal rights as

international citizens to participate fully in world

affairs. We believe that Taiwan has made an active

contribution that has enriched the lives of many in their

collaborative efforts in building and securing

international peace and security. We believe that the

people of Taiwan should be accorded the same

fundamental right to participate as fellow citizens of

the international community and to be allowed to

contribute meaningfully in various sectors of the

Organization’s activities.

The challenges that we face are global in nature,

and therefore require global solutions. We call upon the

United Nations to take the lead in addressing those

challenges, especially in funding, supporting and

facilitating the implementation of practical solutions to

the security challenges that threaten the very existence

of peoples and nations, which in turn poses a threat to

international peace and security.