Mozambique, 2007

On behalf of the people and the Government of the Republic of

Mozambique and, indeed, on my own behalf, I would

like to associate myself with the previous speakers in

congratulating you most warmly on your election as

President of the General Assembly at its sixty-second

session. We are confident that with your experience

and wise leadership, as demonstrated throughout your

remarkable academic and diplomatic career at the

service of your country, and with the support of us all,

the deliberations of this session will be crowned with

success.

Mr. President, my delegation would like to take

this opportunity to pay tribute to your predecessor, Her

Excellency Sheikha Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa, for her

dedication and the innovative manner with which she

presided over the deliberations of the sixty-first session

of the General Assembly.

We also wish to reiterate our special tribute to the

Secretary-General, His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon,

for his election to this post, and we salute him for his

commitment to the continued search for solutions to

the many challenges faced by humanity, and for his

hard work on behalf of our Organization.

Mr. Secretary-General, we would like to reaffirm our

full readiness to continue cooperating with you for the

successful discharge of your difficult but noble

mission.

We commend the selection of the theme of

climate change as the main discussion topic for this

session, as it is an urgent and important issue for our

countries and for the future of our planet. Thanks to the

revolution in convergence technology in the areas of

informatics, broadcasting and telecommunications,

with implications for time and space compression, we

have been following with emotion and on a regular

basis, and in some instances in real time, the effects of

climate change on our planet. We have witnessed the

reduction in the availability of water resources and the

tragic consequences for human beings, fauna and flora;

the increase in the frequency and magnitude of extreme

meteorological phenomena, such as extreme

temperatures, earthquakes and tsunamis, resulting in

the occurrence of natural disasters whose consequences

are incalculable; the reduction of glaciers and the rise

of sea level; to mention but a few of the potential

impacts of climate change, the full effects of which are

yet to be clearly determined.

The impact of these phenomena is felt more

harshly in developing countries, such as ours, given

our deficient forecasting capacity in terms of human

and technical resources. When these disasters strike

our countries, our limitations and our lack of capacity

to face them become more obvious. Examples of such

limitations include: a lack of infrastructure, such as

roads and bridges, preventing rescue personnel from

providing timely assistance, even to citizens at great

risk; a lack of means to assist the victims; and a lack of

resources to mitigate the suffering of the survivors.

Given that we live in a global village, the effects

of climate change are also felt in developed countries.

Phenomena never before recorded with the magnitude

and frequency with which they manifest themselves

today are beginning to be a cause of concern for the

citizens of these countries.

To digress a little from the discussion at hand, we

would like to express our solidarity with and

compassion to all victims of the natural disasters that

have affected different regions of the planet in recent

years. In honour of the victims of these disasters, let us

all reaffirm our commitment to continue together to

strive for a better world, a world free of these threats to

human life and possessions, and to fauna and flora.

That is a collective commitment and aspiration

that we have already assumed through several

instruments, such as the Rio Declaration, Agenda 21

and the Kyoto Protocol. More than ever, and in the face

of recurrent and increasingly devastating tragedies,

there is a need for the involvement of all the members

of the international community in the implementation

of the global actions provided for in these joint

undertakings.

By the same token, we should ensure that the

three pillars of sustainable development, namely,

economic development, social development and the

protection of the environment should be approached

and tackled by all of us, in an integrated, coordinated

and balanced manner. Let us all keep in mind the

strong relationship between these commitments and

our collective desire to attain the Millennium

Development Goals.

We note with great satisfaction that the

international community continues to be committed to

addressing, in a structured and sustainable manner, the

challenges imposed by climate change. In this context,

we welcome the decisions on climate change taken by

the Heads of State and Government of Group of Eight

(G-8) at their last summit held in June of this year in

Germany.

We would also like to congratulate the Secretary-

General, for his initiative in appointing three eminent

persons as Special Envoys on Climate Change. The

convening of the High-level Event on Climate Change,

just two days ago here in this General Assembly Hall,

opens up new prospects for the renewed momentum

necessary for substantial progress to be made during

the Conference of States Parties to the United Nations

Framework Agreement on Climate Change, scheduled

for December of this year in Bali, Indonesia.

We are hopeful that this Conference will build

consensus on future actions, including concrete targets

aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions, and a

post-Kyoto agreement to be binding on all nations.

May this Conference not frustrate expectations,

particularly those of the developing countries.

It is our hope that in Bali consensus will be

reached in some key areas. First, we would like to see

the provision of funding of the national action plans for

adaptation to climate change, proposed by developing

countries parties to the Framework Convention on

Climate Change. The second element is the Adaptation

Fund, established in conformity with the Kyoto

Protocol, to provide assistance for developing

countries, in particular the least developed countries, in

the funding of their adaptation activities. The third is

the implementation of the Buenos Aires Programme of

Work on Adaptation and Response Measures.

Mozambique is a country prone to various types

of natural disasters, which cyclically have resulted in

the loss of human lives, the destruction of huge

agricultural areas, property and social and economic

infrastructures and increased soil erosion and a

decrease in or outright loss of biodiversity.

This state of affairs is aggravated by the shortage

of physical infrastructures for water management, such

as dams and dykes, and for food conservation, such as

silos. In addition, over 70 per cent of our population

lives in rural areas, and natural resources are their

principal source of livelihood. Hence the need for

sustainable use that does not jeopardize the country’s

environmental balance.

Because of this permanent vulnerability,

environmental issues in general, and climate change in

particular, form an integral part of the Government

agenda. Particular attention is thus given to reducing

the vulnerability of citizens to famine caused by

drought, reducing human and property losses,

mitigating the suffering of the population as a result of

disasters and ensuring quick and harmonious

reconstruction processes.

The activities under way include mapping the

areas at risk, improving the early warning system,

improving the conditions for the population to store

agricultural produce, the provision of training and civic

education for our citizens on natural disasters and their

impact on the life of the country and the establishment

of a national emergency operations centre, which

operates 24 hours a day non-stop.

The introduction and implementation of these

measures give priority to and rely on the active

participation of our citizens. For us, the involvement of

our citizens, who are the primary and ultimate

beneficiaries of these governmental actions, is a key

factor in ensuring the success of activities aimed at the

preservation of the environment and mitigating the

adverse effects of climate change. The positive impact

of these actions was in evidence and widely

acknowledged during the recent floods, cyclones and

high tides that we experienced earlier this year. These

measures were recently put to the test once again, when

a warning was sounded on the possibility of a tsunami.

In recognition of the fact that the mitigation of

and adaptation to climate change and the prevention

and reduction of natural disasters require the

engagement of the international community, the

importance of strengthening regional, continental and

international coordination cannot be overemphasized.

In the framework of the report of the High-level Panel

on System-wide Coherence in the areas of

development, humanitarian assistance and the

environment (A/61/583), we advocate the

strengthening of the Global Environment Facility

within the United Nations system. We thus encourage

the United Nations to enhance its institutional capacity

and resources to better assist Member States to

incorporate adequate environmental policies in their

national development strategies. In this regard, special

attention should be given to developing countries with

limited resources to fund their national capacity-

building for dealing with issues related to climate

change.

From this rostrum we once again call upon all

United Nations Member States to accede to and fully

implement all the instruments that have been adopted

to revert and mitigate the impact of climate change.

These instruments include the Kyoto Protocol, Agenda

21 and the Rio Declaration, whose contents were

reaffirmed at the World Summit on Sustainable

Development, held in Johannesburg in 2002.

As members of the United Nations family, we

have the historic responsibility of securing a bright

future for our children and for the generations to come

by preserving a quality environment. That is why

today, more than ever, the time has come for us to join

our hands and work to preserve our planet. To act

against climate change is, in the last analysis, to

preserve world peace and security and to ensure

necessary conditions to achieve the Millennium

Development Goals, which should be viewed and

assumed as the minimum that can now be demanded.

Indeed, let us not postpone until tomorrow what we

can, and must, all do today, as tomorrow may be too

late.