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.