Kiribati, 2013

I bring warm greetings from the

people of Kiribati, on whose behalf I am privileged to

once again address this Assembly.

I would like to take the opportunity to echo

the sentiments conveyed by previous speakers in

congratulating Ambassador John W. Ashe on assuming

the presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-

eighth session. We are indeed very proud to have

a brother from the small island developing States

presiding over this session. I am confident that under

his able stewardship of the Assembly will continue its

work towards improving security and quality of life

for all members of our global community, in particular

the most vulnerable. Let me also take this opportunity

to express my appreciation for the leadership of his

predecessor, Mr Vuk Jeremi..

I also commend the untiring commitment and work

of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has been an

able navigator on this journey, steering the United

Nations through the diverse and complex realities and

the myriad challenges facing our peoples and nations.

On behalf of the people of my country and our region,

I wish to reiterate our deep gratitude for his personal

commitment to the issue of climate change and the

plight of the most vulnerable. Our people still remember

with fondness the Secretary-General’s visit to Kiribati

in 2011, which was particularly significant in that it was

the first visit to our country and region by the head of

the United Nations. I am also heartened and humbled

to hear that his visit brought home to him the stark

realities of the challenges facing our people, living as

we are on the front line of climate change.

As we gather again in New York for this session,

the problems are perhaps greater today than they were a

year ago. Security challenges posed by climate change,

conflicts, terrorism, transnational organized crime

and other threats continue to undermine our efforts to

achieve sustainable development, peace and security

for our global community. In the past few weeks, we

have seen heartbreaking events unfold here in the

United States, in Syria, in Pakistan, in Kenya and in

other parts of the world, giving ample evidence of the

growing security threats to our peoples from within our

own societies. We commiserate and join in prayer with

the families of all those affected by those barbaric and

terrorist acts.

The ongoing work of the United Nations, and the

work awaiting us at this session, reflect these challenges,

and the President has appropriately selected the theme

“The post-2015 development agenda: setting the stage”

for our discussions this week. Kiribati welcomes the

theme. We believe that it provides an opportunity for

us to reflect on what we have done and achieved as

individuals, as leaders of our countries, and together as

a global body entrusted with making the world a more

peaceful, secure and better place for everyone. We must

continue to ask ourselves if what we are doing is in the

best interests of all our people, or of just a select few.

We must examine our efforts as leaders of this global

family and ask ourselves if we are doing the right thing

for our children and their children, whose future rests

in our hands and depends on our decisions.

This is the eighth time I have had the honour to

address this Assembly in my ten years as President,

and on each occasion I have sought to convey the same

message. On each occasion, I have spoken of the real

and existential threat to my nation posed by climate

change and sea-level rise, and I have called for urgent

action to ensure the long-term survival of countries like

mine. Last year (see A/67/PV.11), I said that I would

continue to speak of the peril confronting my country

for as long as I have breath in my body.

Well, I am still breathing and the peril remains.

It is a critical issue for the survival of our people and

indeed for all of humankind. Many of us here today

are parents, and even grandparents. I myself have 10

grandchildren. Surely the world that we want to leave

to our grandchildren should be better than the one we

inherited. But we are not on course to achieve that.

In fact, we are disastrously off course. The scientists

tell us — as I am sure they will again reaffirm in their

next assessment report — that calamity awaits, and not

just for those of us on low-lying islands. What we are

experiencing now on these low-lying atoll islands is an

early warning of what will happen further down the

line. No one will be spared.

We cannot continue to abuse our planet in the

same old way. To shape the future we want for our

children and grandchildren, we need leadership, we

need commitment, we need action — now. When we

all return home to our children and grandchildren,

we must be able to look them in the eye and tell them

with confidence that we have done all that is humanly

possible to combat the devastating consequences of

climate change.

We are grateful to the General Assembly for

acknowledging that climate change is a matter that

warrants the attention of the Security Council. I applaud

the commitment of our Secretary-General to that

specific security threat and particularly welcome his

recent announcement to convene a high-level climate

summit at approximately this time next year. It will be

the most significant such event since the Copenhagen

Climate Change Conference in 2009.

But the Secretary-General cannot mobilize the

remedy needed on his own. He will need the support of

all nations to ensure that the action necessary to address

climate change is taken. We must step up our national

and collective efforts to mitigate global greenhouse gas

emissions. We must urge major greenhouse gas emitters

to do their part. We must also call with urgency on our

development partners to assist in our efforts to deal

with the impacts of climate change and sea-level rise

now being experienced in our countries, and in our

efforts to prepare our people for an uncertain future.

The delivery of international adaptation finance

and resources is taking much too long. We cannot

continue to stand on the sidelines and wait for others

to deliver. In Kiribati, we are taking charge of our

situation and moving forward with our mitigation and

adaptation strategies. We have finalized a national

adaptation framework and are now working directly

with our partners on it. Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan

and the World Bank are working with us to implement

our national adaptation priorities.

While we are taking adaptation measures to ensure

that Kiribati remains habitable for as long as possible,

prudence demands that we prepare for the future of

our people. We are looking to improve the skills of our

people to a level where they are able to exercise the

option of migrating, to be able to migrate with dignity.

When it comes to the Millennium Development

Goals, our situation has not changed much since I last

spoke before this body. We are on track on some of the

Goals, but we continue to be off track on most. This, I

believe, should not come as a surprise, as most of the

limited resources we have continue to be diverted from

equally pressing priorities to fighting the onslaught

of the rising seas and storm surges and their impact

on our water supplies, homes, livelihoods and public

infrastructure. This is a costly exercise, one we cannot

afford but that is necessary. We will continue to rely on

the support and goodwill of our partners and members

of our global family in that regard.

As we prepare for the Third International Conference

on Small Island Developing States, to be held in Samoa

in 2014, the special needs of the most vulnerable low-

lying small States, like Kiribati, the Marshall Islands,

Maldives and Tuvalu, must be highlighted, for how

can we meaningfully discuss sustainable development

goals when a disproportionate amount of our time and

scarce resources are focused on ensuring the survival

of our people?

For us, the ocean is a double-edged sword. Sea-level

rise threatens the very survival of our people. But the

ocean is also an integral part of our lives and provides

daily subsistence for our people. It can and should be a

ticket to freedom from dependency on others. We are a

nation of water. We own substantial fishery resources.

The annual total catch in our waters is valued at some

$400 million. Yet as owners, we receive only 8 per cent

of that sum. Where is the equity, where is the justice

in this?

We believe that this must change. Our objective must

be to maximize the returns from those resources, and

we have started in that direction with the establishment

of our first fish-processing plant through a public-

private partnership. We invite our partners to join us

in that endeavour. I am convinced that, given the right

support, we can achieve sustainable development by

utilizing the available resources of our vast exclusive

economic zone. Through this approach, we can reduce

our reliance on external assistance. I believe that if we

are provided with the support we now need to develop

our capacity to harvest and process our own resources,

we will also be better able to build our climate-change

resilience.

The ocean is the next frontier in the pursuit of

sustainable development. While we have failed to

protect our land and atmosphere from our human

demands, we must make sure that the ocean does not

meet with the same fate.

In June last year, we met in Rio de Janeiro to

review our progress 20 years on from the 1992 Earth

Summit. Unfortunately, our track record in delivering

on our undertakings has not been good. In fact, in many

respects, our environment is worse off today than it

was 21 years ago.We renewed our commitment in Rio

to achieving the future we want, but we need to move

beyond commitments and to act. The future we want

will require this Organization to restructure and realign

itself to reflect the realities of our time: a time in which

new and emerging security threats, such as climate

change, climate variability, sea-level rise and ocean

acidification, are challenging the international system

of governance; a time in which the future survival of

some nations is seriously in question; a time when all

those countries with the ability to do so must contribute

to the prevention of this calamity or be forever judged

by history.

Business as usual can no longer be considered an

option. Let us not limit ourselves to working within the

boundaries of our comfort zones. Let us be inclusive

rather than exclusive. We must listen to civil society,

our youth and women’s groups and allow those with

the ability to make a contribution to join in the global

dialogue and action to address these major challenges.

In that regard, we welcome the continued resolve

of the Secretary-General and the President of the

General Assembly to accelerate action on the reform of

our Organization, to ensure the highest level of global

collaboration, accountability and decisive action, and

to inspire a greater sense of urgency on issues of critical

concern to our global community.

We also welcome the inclusion of Taiwan in the

international processes of the World Health Assembly.

We hope that a similar inclusive approach will prevail in

respect of other international institutions and processes,

so that Taiwan, and others currently excluded, can

participate and contribute meaningfully for the good of

humankind.

Resolution 66/288 calls for a frank assessment of

our global decision-making structure. It requires bold

but rational political commitment on a global scale.

As leaders of our global family, we must be brutally

honest in accepting the fact that unless we act now to

shape the future we want for our children and their

children’s children, the prospects for success will be

bleak. As we chart the path towards the future we want,

we must address the fundamental threats to the security

and very existence of the members of this family of

nations. Once again I call on all of us to ask ourselves

the question, “Whose interests are we pursuing? Are

we here to secure the future of each other’s children

or just our own?” This is the greatest moral challenge

facing us today.