I am honoured to join
previous delegations in congratulating the President on
his election as President of this Assembly at its sixty-
second session. Let me assure him of Grenada’s
unconditional support as he guides our important and
crucial deliberations towards a fruitful and tangible
conclusion.
I also take this opportunity to pay tribute to Mrs.
Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa, who laboured tirelessly
during her presidency of the Assembly at its sixty-first
session, and to her timely and productive initiatives. In
addition, my delegation would like to renew its support
to the Secretary-General in his endeavour to advance
the agenda of the United Nations and to make it more
effective.
In his opening remarks to this General Assembly
the President identified five areas as our priorities:
climate change, economic development, the
Millennium Development Goals, terrorism and United
Nations reform. Grenada salutes that vision in
recognizing the critical issues facing our world today,
and it is through this lens that I would like to project
the views of my country.
On the question of climate change, we applaud
the Secretary-General for convening the recently
concluded High-level Event on Climate Change, and
we are satisfied that this will provide the stimulus and
momentum required for the forthcoming negotiations
in Bali. Indeed, for this sixty-second session, my
delegation welcomes the tremendous emphasis being
placed on climate change and, based on the statements
made thus far, we are heartened to note the
overwhelming commitment to preparing a better world
for our future generations.
The recently concluded event was not our first
attempt. Climate change was also addressed in Rio de
Janeiro, Barbados and Mauritius. It seems that we are
blessed with a penchant for songs of praise in this
multilateral temple of commitment and sacrifice. The
chorus of our voices reverberates loudly in these halls
of wisdom, only to sound a hollow note as we exit the
archways of these chambers and backslide into reality.
As in all of these conferences, the real challenge that
we face is to convert what seems like a religious
fervour into good deeds in the neighbourhood of our
global village. As we preach, so too must we become
converts. Let us move from resolutions to results.
As we head towards Bali, we must craft a
negotiating table that extends well beyond the
dimensions of the intergovernmental process. That
table must have seats for the unborn generations, as
well as seats for this generation wishing to taste the
social and economic prosperity of a new world order.
Because of sea-level rise, we in the small island
States face the spectre of environmental refugees and
our people are already being displaced. For example,
the Maldives with its 1,900 islands, that country has
undertaken significant expenditure building sea
defences and in creating safe zone resettlements for its
people.
The low-lying islands and countries of the world
deserve a far more robust and accountable response
from the international community. In that regard, we
welcome the investigation in the Maldives of the
human dimensions of climate change.
As Grenada knows so well, the effects of climate
change represent the most dangerous threat to the
economic development, peace and security and
territorial existence of small island States. We therefore
welcome the efforts of the British Mission here in New
York, which has worked ceaselessly to raise awareness
and understanding of the threat posed by climate
change, echoing the very concerns that many small
States and low-lying coastal nations have raised over
the last 15 years.
In fact, one thing that has become painfully clear
to Grenada is how easily in the blink of an eye
an entire country can be flattened. In our case, it was
the eye of Hurricane Ivan. Hurricanes and cyclones are
appearing in unusual latitudes and with greater
ferocity. They are appearing further south in the
Atlantic, affecting islands like Grenada, and they are
appearing further north in the Indian Ocean and hit the
Seychelles for the first time in 50 years. Just this
summer we have seen two category five hurricanes,
Dean and Felix, make landfall in the Caribbean within
two weeks of each other, causing loss of lives and
hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.
In Grenada’s case, the destruction was twice its
gross domestic product. However, with the help of
God, the resilience of the Grenadian people, the help
from our Caribbean and international friends including
the United States of America, and with the leadership
of my Prime Minister, we continue our aspirations to
build back better. In that regard, I would like to pay
special tribute to the People’s Republic of China,
whose generous assistance and commitment to our
development have been greatly appreciated by the
Government and the people of Grenada. Because of
their help, Grenada was able to host Cricket World Cup
2007 at our new stadium, which was financed and
constructed by the People’s Republic of China.
Despite all concerted efforts, climate change has
led to a downward assessment of our sovereign credit
rating and Grenada is now under the guidance of the
International Monetary Fund. Grenada cannot borrow
money on the international market to replant its
nutmeg, to mend its coastal infrastructure, or to
upgrade its tourism industry. As a result, we have
imposed a reconstruction levy on our people, at a time
when global energy and food prices are increasing. The
economic burden of global warming is hitting the
pockets of ordinary women and men in the streets of
Grenada, the poor farmer, the hardworking teacher and
the waiters and waitresses in our hotels. Those ordinary
island citizens are paying the price for the lifestyles of
the major emitters.
A new paradigm is needed within the United
Nations system and the Bretton Woods institutions.
Within that paradigm must lie an understanding that
small island developing States have an environmental
and economic vulnerability that warrants a new set of
metrics, a new set of rules and a new level of support.
As we head towards a post-2012 agreement, we
need aggressive mitigation targets. Those targets are
critical for us, because sea temperature rise is already
causing bleaching of the coastal reefs. Loss of those
ecosystems has a harmful impact on fish stocks, one of
our main sources of protein and foreign exchange.
The Caribbean Community Climate Change
Centre has said that a further one degree temperature
rise will lead to significant loss of tuna and dolphin
stocks. And to compound the matter, in Mauritius and
the Seychelles, tuna stocks are diving deeper seeking
cooler waters. In recent years, the fish catch has
dwindled and revenues have diminished. To alleviate
those problems, more investment is now needed in new
studies, as well as in fishing technologies, equipment
and practices.
As we approach the Bali meeting, Grenada
reiterates its position, articulated by the Alliance of
Small Island States, that the viability and adaptability
of the most vulnerable, such as small island developing
States, must be the fundamental benchmark against
which all negotiations are framed. In the efforts to
mitigate climate change, no nation must be left behind.
Let that be our guiding principle, if we are to make
meaningful progress in Bali.
While these negotiations are ongoing, my country
and many other islands and low-lying countries are
taking all necessary steps to cushion the fallouts and
dislocations. Adaptation funding and funding for
economic development are almost indivisible.
Grenada calls for the urgent completion of the
institutional arrangements for the Adaptation Fund, in a
manner that guarantees that priority should be given to
the needs of the small island developing States. On the
question of the Global Environmental Facility, we
welcome the energy, enthusiasm and flexibility of its
new Chief Executive Officer. We are, however,
disappointed with the implications of the Resource
Allocation Framework. Nonetheless, we look forward
to strengthening the working relationship with the
Facility following reforms that make it more
responsive to the needs of small island States.
Climate change, energy, economic development
and the Millennium Development Goals are so tightly
interwoven that over the long term, we cannot tease out
any one thread without weakening the fabric of our
common aspirations for prosperity and peace.
It is well known that women are the most affected
by poverty and suffer the highest levels of
marginalization. As the United Nations continues its
study of the issue of gender architecture and the
general advancement of women, Grenada sees the
empowerment of women as being critical for our own
development. We therefore urge other States to
contribute to the many bodies of the United Nations
that promote and seek to secure avenues for women in
the development process. Let us contribute to their
budgets and not to their demise; for even if only a few
benefit, that sets the stage for others to follow. In our
view, the advancement of women represents a most
powerful force for social and economic progress.
Investment in gender mainstreaming is an investment
in social justice, economic diversity and political
stability.
The United Nations must lead by example.
Guided by the tenets of the Millennium Development
Goals, Grenada is working assiduously to improve the
status of women. Several years ago only a few women
held high political or other public offices in Grenada,
but today we are proud to report that approximately 50
per cent of the Cabinet of our executive branch is made
up of women and that many others hold top positions
within the public service.
The challenge facing the vulnerable States of the
world can be resolved only if we ourselves transform
our thinking and reform our methodologies. For that
reason, we support the revitalization of the General
Assembly. My delegation joins the call for the
expansion of the membership of the Security Council
in both categories to allow for a Council more
representative of the 192 States and five regions which
it represents. That way we can achieve much in
assembling a stronger and more powerful Council
which will be better able to fulfil its mandate in a fair,
just and transparent manner.
Grenada, as small as it is, has the honour to
highlight its humble but valuable contribution to the
securing of stability in Haiti. This year Grenada has
increased its deployment of police personnel to the
United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti. We
encourage others to give whatever support they can, no
matter how minute, to the efforts of international
peacekeeping initiatives. We are, however, hopeful that
very soon our unit and others like it will no longer be
needed.
In closing, I must indicate that despite the
challenges I have outlined relating to our economic
viability and territorial integrity, we still have to pay
close attention to terrorism and other threats to world
peace and security. Grenada therefore remains steadfast
in its commitment to the international community to
fight terrorism in all its forms and to ensure that the
seeds of that poisonous weed never take root on our
shores. Grenada is convinced that a free and
democratic world is our best hope and therefore
pledges its full support towards the betterment of lives
worldwide. I call on all nations, big and small, rich and
poor, to contribute even more to that noble task.
We are all obviously singing from the same song
sheet. Let us harmonize the sound of our voices to
amplify action for the citizens of our world. It must
echo triumphantly across the generations, so that when
it is replayed with fidelity to our children and our
grandchildren they will listen with dignity, and not
with disdain.