Federated States of Micronesia, 2009

I wish to offer my warm

congratulations to Mr. Ali Abdussalam Treki on his

election to the presidency of the General Assembly at

its sixty-fourth session. We are confident that he will

live up to the high standards set by his esteemed

predecessor.

Allow me to begin my remarks today by thanking

members of the General Assembly for their positive

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action this past June in adopting resolution 63/281, on

climate change and its possible security implications.

Developed and developing countries alike worked

together with the smallest and most vulnerable to do

something that would have been unthinkable just a few

years ago. It is now becoming all the more compelling

that we work together, as we did in adopting that

resolution, to act decisively in confronting this threat.

The importance of this groundbreaking resolution

cannot be overstated. Its message is clear: climate

change is a threat to international peace and security.

The resolution is a historic milestone for this body.

Climate change, including its far-reaching effects and

its security implications, is the defining issue for the

world today — an issue that should command the

attention and support of everyone.

When we met here last year, the world economy

was going through a time of unprecedented crisis.

Fearing that the global economy was heading for

collapse, the world stood together and, with strong

determination and swiftness, adopted difficult but

concrete measures aimed at averting that global

disaster. In keeping with the spirit of cooperation, it is

indispensable for the international community to be

steadfast and bold enough to take equally difficult

decisions to address the climate change crisis without

delay. Accelerating action by and cooperation among

Governments, the private sector and civil society is

imperative in order to meet the challenge posed by

climate change.

Given the critical importance of climate change

to my country, allow me to address that issue here

again. I thank the Secretary-General for bringing more

attention to climate change and for convening the high-

level Summit on Climate Change on 22 September

2009.

For us Micronesians and our fellow Pacific

islanders, including those of other parts of the world,

climate change is a matter of survival as peoples,

cultures and nations. For centuries, the people of

Micronesia have lived on their small islands, many less

than a metre above sea level. They have enjoyed a life

dependent on the bounties of the sea and the harvest

from the land. They have developed a culture of

respect for nature and have lived in harmony with their

natural surroundings. They built outrigger canoes and

rigged them with sails from pandanus leaves. Long

before Magellan, they sailed the vast expanse of the

Pacific Ocean, aided only by an intimate understanding

of the stars and ocean currents.

Sadly, today’s disregard for our planet is slowly

making the ocean that has always nurtured us the very

instrument of our destruction. Micronesia is already

experiencing the brunt of the negative impacts of

climate change. The sea-level rise, changing weather

patterns and an increase in the frequency and intensity

of natural disasters, such as typhoons, are all

undermining our development efforts. The years of El

Niño have brought more droughts and increased

rainfall, causing substantial damage to staple crops.

Our taro patches and arable lands are limited to begin

with. Compounding the problem is the intrusion of salt

water, damaging basic crops, including taro and

coconut trees — our tree of life. What if the melting of

polar ice sheets and glaciers were to reach an

irreversible point? The outcome is crystal-clear:

Micronesia and all low-lying islands would disappear

from the face of the Earth. But the effects would go

much further, endangering coastal cities and

communities all over the world, including Manhattan.

Our vulnerability compels us to take proactive

concerted action in seeking fast-track solutions. In that

regard, I am pleased to share two specific mitigation

measures taken by my Government.

The first action taken by Micronesia is a proposal

that has been submitted to the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change

(UNFCCC). The aim of the proposal is to make a

modest beginning to evaluating rapid mitigation

strategies by establishing a four-year programme for

experts to report on ways to achieve rapid mitigation

by dealing with short-lived non-carbon dioxide agents,

including black carbon, under the auspices of

UNFCCC.

This year, Micronesia and Mauritius proposed a

two-part amendment to the Montreal Protocol to phase

down the production and use of hydrofluorocarbons

(HFCs). Secondly, our proposal would expand efforts

to destroy so-called banks of discarded refrigerants that

are harmful to climate. Our proposal, with additional

sponsors, has started a global dialogue on the

demonstrated versatility of the Montreal Protocol as a

treaty for early climate protection.

I want to commend the North American countries

for their strong support and action on HFCs. Recently,

the United States, Canada and Mexico added their

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support to the proposal to use the Montreal Protocol to

phase down HFCs. That kind of cooperation, between

developed and developing countries, is what we need.

We therefore urge the North American countries and

others to support the second part of the amendment

proposed by Micronesia and Mauritius.

The bottom line is that Micronesia has already

suffered the effects of climate change. We therefore

seek to draw the attention of the world to any and all

possibilities for rapid mitigation action that could buy

us more time while the long-term war against carbon

dioxide proceeds.

Allow me now to briefly focus on several other

areas of priority to my country. To effectively manage

and conserve our biodiversity and limited natural

resources, Micronesia continues to work with other

Governments in our subregion to meet the

commitments of the Micronesia Challenge, which calls

for the conservation of at least 30 per cent of the area’s

marine resources and 20 per cent of its land resources

by 2020. We acknowledge the support of our friends

and development partners who have helped us

implement that initiative.

As part of our national development agenda,

especially in the priority areas of health, education and

private sector development, we are seeking to acquire

comprehensive broadband connectivity capacity

through undersea fibre-optic cable. That will enable us

to meet the objectives of the World Summit on the

Information Society and the Millennium Development

Goals (MDGs). We are also taking the necessary

measures to liberalize the environment for

telecommunications services in order to promote

competition and to put in place an appropriate national

information and communications technology plan.

To achieve those objectives, we look to the United

Nations system, the International Telecommunication

Union and our development partners for their support

and guidance.

Micronesia is indeed undertaking a wide variety

of tasks as it strives to achieve the Millennium

Development Goals. We recognize that some of the

Goals can be especially difficult for us to sustain, even

though we may be on track to achieve them. Progress

towards the MDGs is inherently threatened by the

nature of our vulnerability to climate change.

As an island State with a large excusive economic

zone abundant with marine and fisheries resources, we

are naturally concerned about unsustainable fishing

practices. We are also concerned about the unabated

incidence of illegal, unreported unregulated fishing,

which only robs the coastal island nations of their most

precious resource, which is fish.

At a time when the world food market is deeply

affected by the food crisis and economic turmoil,

Micronesians are increasingly dependent on the

bounties of the sea to provide their nourishment and

their economic development. That is precisely why we

remain concerned about the collateral catches and

discards in commercial fisheries, as they deprive our

people of the critical resources that they depend upon

for their subsistence living and that are of cultural

importance. The international community must help us

to find ways to minimize and eliminate that wasteful

harvesting of resources. Economic resources are

critical to successfully implementing our nation-

building efforts.

Micronesia has a genuine interest in the reform of

the Security Council — a Council that must embrace

an expansion in both of its membership categories, to

be more inclusive and broadly representative and to

reflect the present realities of the world in the new

century. We urge the President of the Assembly to carry

forward the intergovernmental negotiations that were

begun during its sixty-third session. I reiterate our

support for the candidacies of Japan, India and

Germany for permanent membership on the Council.

December is around the corner and the world

needs to seal the deal in Copenhagen. The task will not

be easy, but we must not fail. Millions of lives are at

risk and our homelands are in peril.

Micronesia is a member of the Alliance of Small

Island States and our position is well known. We have

repeatedly called for a strong agreement that must

leave no island behind. Our collective failure to meet

this challenge now will lead us towards colossal and

irreversible damage to our Mother Earth.

When the health of our planet needs remedy and

the lives of millions depend on our action, we must

respond and take appropriate and swift action. I am

aware that different States have different ideas of what

a strong deal means, but mistrust between countries

cannot become a reason for failure, nor can economic

considerations become an excuse for inaction.

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Throughout the history of humankind, there have

been examples of nations that disagreed coming

together for their own survival during a crisis, be it

during a time of war, economic hardship or epidemic.

Today, that crisis is climate change. There is simply no

more time to waste, and I will therefore stop here. Talk

is cheap; action speaks louder than words. And we

need action. Let us go to Copenhagen to seal the deal.

We will all meet again in Copenhagen.