Two days ago, world
leaders met here in this Hall and made strong
statements on the urgent need to address climate
change. We heard the Chairman of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,
Mr. Pachauri, present compelling evidence on the state
of the world climate. He outlined a dire picture of the
future state of the planet if strong and joint action is
not taken. We have no time to lose.
It is imperative that we reach a comprehensive
post-Kyoto agreement. The new agreement must be
firmly anchored in the United Nations, and it must
include all major emitting countries and all major
sectors. When we meet in Bali in December we should
agree on the roadmap for the coming negotiations.
The industrialized countries bear a special
responsibility for the current state of our atmosphere.
Therefore, they must also take special responsibility
for bringing the global emissions of greenhouse gases
back to a sustainable level. Our long-term goal should
be to avoid temperature increases above two degrees
Celsius compared to the pre-industrial level.
Meeting the challenge of climate change is within
our reach. However, it requires that our response be
strong and coherent. We need to provide the worldwide
private sector with strong incentives for cutting
emissions. That is why it is essential to put a price on
carbon emissions and to expand the carbon market.
Seven years ago, I was one of the 189 heads of
State or Government who signed the Millennium
Declaration. We undertook a commitment to deliver on
the United Nations Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs). However, unless we make an extra effort, we
will not fulfil the promises we made to the people of
the world. In particular, we are lagging behind in
fulfilling the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
on child and maternal health. Every year almost ten
million children die before the age of five. Many lives
can be saved using inexpensive and effective vaccines.
Norway has contributed to the Global Alliance
for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) since its
inception in the year 2000. We have already managed
to save more than two million lives through this
alliance. But we need to move beyond vaccination.
Each year two million babies die before the sun
sets on their first day of life. The four million
newborns who die in their first month might survive if
they were breastfed and had access to antibiotics and
health workers. And not only newborns, but their
mothers as well. Each year 500,000 women die in
connection with childbirth. Simple, affordable
measures can save millions.
Today Norway, together with other Governments,
agencies and civil society, launched a global campaign
to do precisely that: save millions of lives. The
campaign's main thrusts are organizing and financing
survival; ensuring that health personnel treat more
patients and file fewer reports; and changing the
financing mechanism so that treating patients becomes
a source of income rather than a cost for health
systems. Today we are launching an advocacy
campaign for women and children to ensure that our
message will reach every corner of the world. I am also
pleased to announce that we are building a network of
global leaders to oversee and ensure that the women
and children will indeed be given priority. Today, let
me also announce that Norway is pledging $1 billion
over 10 years to support the Millennium Development
Goals on child and maternal health.
The global campaign that we launched today,
builds directly on the recommendations from the High-
level Panel on System-wide Coherence, which I had
the privilege of chairing together with my colleagues
from Pakistan and Mozambique.
We need a strong and efficient United Nations;
we need a United Nations that delivers results; we need
a United Nations that delivers on the Millennium
Development Goals. Addressing these challenges was
the mandate of the Panel. The Panel held meetings in
many parts of the world and listened to countries,
regional groups, citizens groups, voluntary
organizations and many individuals. In November last
year we presented our report (A/61/583) and
recommendations to the Secretary-General. They are
an honest attempt to boost the Organization's ability to
live up to its potential. At the heart of our report, we
recommend establishing "One United Nations" in each
country: one leader, one programme, one budget and
one office, wherever feasible. Also - equally
important for a better functioning United Nations: we
need a better focused management system at
Headquarters level. The Sustainable Development
Board aims at precisely that.
The Panel set out with ambitions driven by a
sense of responsibility, knowing that our most
important constituency is not the United Nations itself,
but those millions of people who do not enjoy the
prosperity and freedom that many of us take for
granted. Yet those people, whose life situation gave
rise to the Millennium Development Goals, who right
now wonder how they will make it through the day -
it is for the sake of those poor and destitute people that
we must have an efficient United Nations, one that is
well governed and well funded and that will remain a
global repository of hope.
That is why we are under an obligation to take a
fresh look at the way in which we have come to build a
fragmented United Nations, one that risks being
weakened, marginalized and less relevant. We have
worked with the United Nations system to abolish
diseases, such as smallpox, and repressive regimes,
such as apartheid. And we continue our struggle to
abolish poverty, child mortality, torture and inhuman
and degrading treatment - and to achieve the
Millennium Development Goals.
Today more and more people are breaking out of
poverty. We have never had greater capacities to bridge
the gaps between us, but we cannot allow the
international community to waste resources or to work
towards the Millennium Development Goals in
anything but the most effective and rewarding ways.
We must focus our work, measure our results and show
that development, as organized by the United Nations,
pays high rewards.
That is why we need to be open-minded,
recognizing that the most radical step we can take is to
do nothing. I am pleased to see the progress being
made in the eight pilot countries, where the "One
United Nations' model is being implemented in
practice. I am also pleased to see that these countries
have adopted different "One United Nations' processes
and models that are tailored to each country's specific
situation. This shows that there is no blueprint.
United Nations funds and programmes operating
in the field are already responding. Increasingly, we
see better coordination and stronger leadership. I
commend the United Nations bodies that have adopted
the new guiding principles, and I appeal to the others
to follow suit.
The Panel's report sets out a way forward. The
United Nations has not broken down, but it requires
maintenance; therefore, the Panel did not propose
revolutionary changes. Rather, we put forward some
practical, achievable and effective measures, building
on the thrust of decisions already made by Member
States. New gender architecture is urgently needed. I
urge Member States to demonstrate the required vision
and leadership. This will be an important task for this
General Assembly.
Norway prides itself on being a friend of the
United Nations. We support multilateral solutions to
common problems, but a true friend does not refrain
from speaking out when change and improvement are
required. We believe in international development
cooperation; we believe in a strong and efficient
United Nations; therefore, we would like to reform the
United Nations.