Kiribati, 2009

I am indeed honoured to address

this body on behalf of the people of Kiribati, but let me

start by congratulating Mr. Ali Treki on his assumption

of the presidency of the General Assembly at this

session. The tasks ahead of him and indeed ahead of us

all are challenging. I am confident, however, that with

cooperative efforts and commitment from all of us and

with the President’s able leadership of this session, we

should be able to rise to the challenge before us. I also

take the opportunity to thank the President’s

predecessor, Mr. D’Escoto Brockmann, for his

commendable leadership during the previous session.

Every year, we gather in this Hall to deliberate on

the daunting challenges that continue to confront us as

citizens of the international community. We gather as

leaders to find solutions to these challenges that will

ensure the survival of humanity not just today but

tomorrow and beyond.

Climate change is indeed the greatest moral

challenge to humanity in our time, and I fear that our

children and grandchildren will look back and ask us

the question: “How is it that they knew what they knew

yet they did so little?” We simply cannot afford the

consequences of inaction. The people of my country

are already feeling the impacts of climate change,

which will only worsen over time. We, together with

those of other low-lying States, will become victims of

climate change.

I have been advocating a combination of

pragmatic adaptation strategies for my people. It is our

overwhelming desire to maintain our homeland and our

sovereignty. However, with the inevitable decline in

the ability of our islands to support life — let alone

increasing populations — due to rising sea levels, we

must also provide opportunities for those of our people

who wish to migrate to be able to do so on merit and

with dignity. Our approaches will be time-relevant,

responding to the different levels of threat and impacts

of climate change on our islands and our people as

time goes by.

We expect greenhouse gas emitters to take

appropriate action to mitigate these negative effects.

We ask for assistance with our adaptation efforts and

we ask those who might need our labour to be able to

open their doors. It is important to stress that these

options are not mutually exclusive.

The President returned to the Chair.

Our relocation strategy requires the support of the

international community. On previous occasions, I

have referred to existing initiatives with our regional

development partners, and I wish to say again that I am

grateful to the Governments of New Zealand and

Australia for their support through the Pacific Access

Category scheme, the Kiribati Australia Nursing

Initiative and the Australia-Pacific Technical College

programme. These are models that we believe can be

implemented more broadly as a win-win option for all

concerned. Pacific leaders have agreed to work

together to address climate change through the 2008

Niue Declaration on Climate Change.

Internationally, the declaration adopted by

Alliance of Small Island States leaders a few days ago

outlines the issues of importance to small island

developing States and calls for action on climate

change, particularly leading up to Copenhagen.

Resolution 63/281 on climate change and its possible

security implications is a landmark decision of the

General Assembly that acknowledges the link between

climate change and security. I commend our Pacific

ambassadors in New York for initiating and driving

that resolution, and I thank the sponsors for their

support.

I appreciate that reaching consensus in

Copenhagen will not be an easy task, but I do believe

that it is possible and that it is imperative that we do

so. If we can mobilize trillions of dollars to address the

challenges of the global economic crisis, then we must

be equally capable of taking the action necessary to

27 09-52463

deal with the challenges of the global environment.

Over the past few days, I have been deeply heartened

to see leaders’ strong commitment to tackling this

common challenge together, to hear leaders resolve to

look beyond national interests and focus on the global

interest, and by their understanding of the predicament

of those on the front line of climate change.

To be able to see leaders’ strong determination to

seal the deal in Copenhagen — a deal that, among

other things, will address the plight of the most

vulnerable — has given me hope and restored my faith

in humanity and in the relevance of our global

community and our global leadership. I take this

opportunity to strongly commend the Secretary-

General for his initiative in organizing the high-level

Summit on Climate Change. That Summit provided us

with the opportunity as leaders to talk face to face and

to agree on a way forward for the climate change

negotiations. I also thank my fellow leaders for their

understanding, compassion and political will

collectively to address this crisis and its impacts.

It is now absolutely necessary that we capitalize

on this collective political will. We must direct our

negotiators to act accordingly to ensure that our

common resolve as leaders is in fact given effect. I

know that we will not be able to agree on all issues, but

at the same time I am sure there are some fundamental

issues that we cannot afford not to agree on. Let us not

waste any more time on diplomatic talk, language,

drafting of amendments, posturing and empty

platitudes. We know what needs to be done. It has been

called many things — a new world order, the grand

bargain, a new green deal — but Copenhagen gives us

the opportunity to enter into a global compact for

action on climate change between developed and

developing countries, North and South, East and West.

This might be our last chance. If we do not act now,

who the hell is going to do it?

We have declared the Phoenix Islands Protected

Area (PIPA), the largest marine protected area in the

world, covering more than 400,000 square kilometres

of ocean area. It constitutes something like 11 per cent

of our exclusive economic zone. PIPA is a collective

partnership between my Government, Conservation

International and New England Aquarium. The

preservation of the Phoenix Islands and the

surrounding ocean is our gift, our statement to

humanity, in the face of climate change. It is our

contribution to international efforts to significantly

reduce biodiversity loss by the year 2010. Even now as

we confront the possibility that our islands will become

uninhabitable within this century due to rising sea

levels, we recognize the value of protecting something

that we firmly believe to be the common heritage of all

mankind.

We are indeed encouraged to see the emergence

of ocean conservation and management initiatives in

the Pacific. Such initiatives include the Micronesia

Challenge, the Coral Triangle Initiative and the Nauru

Agreement. Kiribati and the Pacific are committed to

the sustainable conservation and management of its

oceans. At the Pacific Islands Forum in Australia last

month, the leaders of the Pacific adopted the Pacific

Oceanscape initiative, aimed at promoting

collaboration and exchanges between marine protected

areas in the region and with other partners. We call for

support for this initiative from the international

community.

The impacts of the climate crisis, the

international financial crisis and the food and energy

crisis have ended our efforts to achieve sustainable

development and our way forward towards achieving

the Millennium Development Goals. The particular

economic and environment vulnerability of Kiribati as

a small island developing State should be taken into

account when considering us for graduation from least

developed country status. Assistance provided to the

least developed countries helps us at this point in time

in our efforts to address challenges we face as a nation.

To lose that assistance would be detrimental to our

efforts and to the livelihood of our people. We reiterate

our call to the United Nations to reconsider the listing

for the graduation of Kiribati and other countries in the

Pacific.

On the issue of global governance, the United

Nations is undergoing change to adapt to the realities

of our time. It must maintain its relevance if it is to

address the security challenges that the world continues

to face. We believe that the United Nations should be

an inclusive Organization, particularly for States such

as Taiwan that make a contribution to world harmony

and have demonstrated time and again their willingness

and ability to contribute positively to international

cooperative efforts. Taiwan has demonstrated its

commitment to international peace and security

through its contributions to national, regional and

international development programmes. It is only fair

and fitting, therefore, that Taiwan should be allowed to

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participate meaningfully in meetings and activities of

the United Nations organs. Given the impact of climate

change and the demands of aviation safety and security

on its development and the well-being of its people, we

now appeal for the meaningful participation of Taiwan

in the work and activities of the International Civil

Aviation Organization and the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change.

In concluding, in the face of the common

challenges facing the global community, it is

encouraging to hear leaders call for a new global order

in which our interests as fellow citizens of the planet

override our national interests, particularly where

global human security and lives are under serious

threat. This goal reaffirms the principle of collective

responsibility for the common challenges that we face.

The United Nations will and must continue to

play a significant role in the new world order,

particularly in mobilizing the political will and the

necessary action and resources required to implement

it. Copenhagen will be the test of the political will and

commitment that we have declared over the past few

days as leaders. It will determine the fate of the most

vulnerable and eventually the whole of humanity.