Palau, 2013

At the outset, let me

extend my congratulations and appreciation to the

President of the General Assembly for his leadership

and work with the General Assembly at its sixty-eighth

session and to the Secretary-General for his continuing

leadership.

The Palauan flag depicts a yellow full moon against

a blue ocean. That combination of moon and ocean is a

metaphor for nature’s balance and harmony through the

consistency of the rising and falling tides. Just before

I left to come to the General Assembly, during a full

moon high tide, my back yard, which nestles against

the ocean, flooded. Typhoon Usagi passed through the

Pacific just a few days later and landed in Asia, killing

many people. It was followed almost immediately by

Tropical Storm Pabuk.

When I was a child, my back yard did not flood

and we did not have tropical storm after tropical storm

pass through our Pacific islands. It is therefore as clear

to me as it is to other Pacific leaders that the full moon

and the ocean are no longer metaphors for balance and

harmony. Today they represent imbalance from our

past excesses and a lack of harmony due to our current

inability, as the Secretary-General has so often said, to

create the world we want.

The leaders and the people of the world certainly

face many challenges moving forward in creating the

world we want and in developing a sustainable future.

In addressing the next round of sustainable development

goals and in responding to the ever-growing challenges

of global warming, it is imperative that we all do a better

job of working together to solve the serious issues that

we face.

World leaders at the 1992 Earth Summit in

Rio established a positive and rational vision of

partnership and sustainable development for the

world. Unfortunately, that vision seems to have been

sidetracked. There is therefore frustration in many

countries today related to our failure to move that vision

forward, the slow pace in progress in meeting our joint

goals, and the fear that those goals are being diluted.

Today, it appears that the United Nations Framework

Convention on Climate Change has stalled, that the

Kyoto Protocol is on life support, and that the United

Nations Conference on Sustainable Development

has not done enough to strengthen our three pillars

of sustainable development. Our job as leaders is to

reinvigorate our efforts by establishing real mitigation

commitments and identifying immediate, sufficient

and long-term implementation financing.

Together, we reaffirmed the principle of common

but differentiated responsibilities at Rio and moved

forward with the green economy approach to

sustainable development issues. We must not allow our

green economy to become business as usual. Rather,

we must take concrete actions to make real our stated

reaffirmation of the principles of the Monterrey

Consensus and the Doha Declaration on Financing

for Development. Only then will our sustainable

development goals discussed at this session of the

Generally Assembly have a real chance to respond to our

current worldwide environmental and developmental

emergency.

It is clear that what is needed today is

leadership — leadership from the developed world and

leadership from the developing world; leadership that

focuses beyond borders and looks farther than today’s

problems; ultimately, leadership that creates a broad

consensus vision to preserve our planet for tomorrow’s

children. Such leadership must be based upon concrete

and clear principles that will help guide all of our

actions.

First, all nations, large and small, must accept

direct and primary responsibility for global issues that

threaten our planetary future, and must immediately

take appropriate action. Secondly, we must protect

the natural resources of all people and all nations,

and recognize that no nation has the right to pollute

the resources of another. Thirdly, we must recognize

the need for the richer nations of the world to actively

address actions that threaten the poorer nations of the

world. Fourthly, we must protect human resources

through governing strategies that focus on broad-based

education, health, jobs and equal opportunities, and

that acknowledge cultures, traditions and homelands.

Finally, we must agree, in all matters, to promote and

protect the human rights and peaceful existence of all

the people of the world. Discussion, not weapons, is

the best way to resolve differences and uphold human

rights.

Let me interject here that as we witness so many

areas of conflict on our planet, I think it is time for all of

us, as leaders, to use this great institution and our own

efforts to condemn violence against people, including

the use of chemical weapons, for any reason, and to

seek an end to armed conflict wherever we can. The

events in Kenya are but one of a series of violent acts

against people that we must work together to eliminate.

Our global warming doomsday is already set

in stone if we fail to act. It is therefore our job as

leaders to take all necessary action to eliminate the

current threat. My country, along with other Pacific

island nations, is unwilling even to discuss a 3°C-to-

5°C temperature-increase scenario by the end of the

century, for that will ensure our demise. We are also

unwilling to discuss the issue of migration. Instead, we

will continue to work with our developed partners to

implement strong mitigation commitments and follow-

through action to hold the line on that increase to a

more realistic 1.5°C level.

My small Pacific country supports the concepts

inherent in the Majuro Declaration for Climate

Leadership, issued at the Pacific Island Forum this year.

The Declaration acknowledges the gross insufficiency

of current efforts to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.

It also recognizes the necessity of ramping up climate

change responses immediately and provides a platform

for country leaders to establish new and realistic

reduction commitments. As leaders, we must all

respond to global warming in both the short and long

term, from the top down and the bottom up, both pre-

2020 and post-2020.

We should not forget, however, that the primary

responsibility for reducing greenhouse gases still rests

with our developed partners. We must therefore use

the opportunity of the nineteenth session of the United

Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,

to be held in Warsaw, and thereafter, to support the

technical work needed to fast-track the policies and

technologies appropriate to accomplishing our goal; to

revive the Kyoto Protocol or develop a more responsive

alternative, and deliver and expand on commitments

to reduce greenhouse gases; to phase out inefficient

fossil-fuel subsidies that distort world oil prices; and

to arrive at a legally binding agreement to respond to

and compensate for loss and damage associated with

the impact of climate change in vulnerable countries.

Here at the United Nations in New York, we must

deal with global warming security issues by appointing

a special representative on climate and security to help

expand our understanding of the security dimensions of

climate change, and by establishing a joint task force,

led by the Secretary-General, to assess and expand

United Nations capacity to respond to the security

implications of climate change. We must make 2014

the year of ambition. As host of the forty-fifth Pacific

Islands Forum, Palau pledges to use that summit to

build on the Majuro Declaration and to drive greater

action. As leaders, we must also come to the Secretary-

General’s climate change summit next year ready to

discuss the new mitigation actions we are prepared to

take and the plans necessary to see that they are fully

implemented.

My country is trying with all its might to embrace

its leadership on issues of sustainable development. To

date, Palau has committed to providing 20 per cent of

its energy through renewable sources by 2020 and to

reducing energy consumption through efficiency and

conservation efforts. We have also declared and begun

to implement the Micronesia Challenge, which commits

the Micronesian region to effectively conserving at least

30 per cent of near-shore marine resources and 20 per

cent of terrestrial resources by 2020. In that effort, Palau

and other Micronesian jurisdictions have strengthened

or established more than 150 protected and managed

areas covering more than 680,000 hectares, leveraged

more than $20 million in operational funds and inspired

other efforts, such as the Caribbean Challenge, the

Coral Triangle initiative and the Western Indian Ocean

Coastal Challenge.

In addition, we have recently sponsored the

creation of a Pacific Islands Forum invasive species

advisory group to improve regional efforts to reduce

the expansion of invasive species throughout the

Pacific. Palau has also pioneered the planet’s first shark

sanctuary and, finally, recently engaged to pursue our

most ambitious commitment to date — establishing

the world’s first comprehensive marine sanctuary,

which will close Palau’s exclusive economic zone to

commercial fishing. We ask all the nations of the world

to move in a similar direction, while recognizing their

own unique circumstances, to help protect our planet’s

natural resources. An example of one simple action

that would have a major impact on saving our shark

population would be the prohibition of shark’s fin soup.

That is something that everyone in the world can clearly

do without.

We are at a historic global moment. A year from

now, the United Nations will launch the sustainable

development goals, in a framework that will define

the relationship between our peoples and our planet

for generations to come. Through those goals, we must

commit to a more sustainable use of the oceans. They

cover two-thirds of the world’s surface and connect

90 per cent of its population. A billion people are

dependent on their fish. The oceans’ health is undeniably

linked to our culture, societies and economies. Yet

in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the

oceans received no mention. As the MDGs wind down

in 2015, we need a new paradigm.

It is therefore time to enunciate our commitment

to our oceans with a sustainable development goal that

deals exclusively with them. Drawing from the lessons

learned from the MDGs, we as leaders must create a goal

that is resonant, measurable and easily communicated.

Failure to do so will leave us naked before the shifting

tides. In our sustainable development goals, we must

also focus on non-communicable diseases (NCDs),

which cause two-thirds of the world’s 57 million deaths

annually. Within that context, we should also recognize

that tobacco consumption, which was not included in

the MDGs, has a direct impact on worsening NCDs and

must therefore be separately targeted.

None of our leadership goals can be achieved

without strong partnerships. Fortunately, Palau has

been blessed over the last half-century with strong

regional and international partners. I would first like

to acknowledge the more than 50 years of support and

leadership shown to us by the United States. We stand

with the United States in its ongoing efforts to guide the

international response to the horrific actions in Syria.

We are also grateful for its very generous economic

support over the years, and for being a reliable ally on

which we can depend. We look forward to the final

completion of the treaty that will renew and reinforce

our relationship.

Palau would also like to acknowledge the significant

support we have received over the years from our friend

Japan. We are hopeful that expansion and reform of the

Security Council will result in permanent membership

of the Council for Japan. In addition, we would like

to thank the Republic of China on Taiwan for its

friendship and economic support in helping Palau to

achieve its Millennium Development Goals and move

on to the post-2015 development agenda through grants

and technical assistance in the areas of infrastructure,

food security enhancement and human capacity. We

strongly support Taiwan’s expanded participation in

the United Nations system, acknowledge the expansion

of its meaningful participation in United Nations

specialized agencies and mechanisms, and call on the

United Nations system to accept Taiwan’s participation

as a valuable contributor to our collective efforts.

Beginning with the leadership of those assembled

here, and working down to every level of international

action and cooperation, we can respond, in a timely and

expedited fashion, to the real emergencies we face. But

the time for excuses is over. It is now time for leaders

to lead.