Micronesia

I am honoured to take part in the general debate of the General Assembly for the first time since taking office as President of the Federated States of Micronesia in May this year. On this occasion, I am honoured to express to Mr. Srgjan Kerim my respect and congratulations on his election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty- second session. I have every confidence that he will live up to the high standards of his esteemed predecessors. I wish to also convey my congratulations to the Secretary-General, His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon, as he takes the helm of the Organization. I pledge to the Secretary-General my Government’s strong support. I wish to reaffirm our commitments and the importance that my country attaches to multilateralism and the purposes and principles of the United Nations. A few days ago, on 24 September, we met in this very Hall to take stock of a global threat which probably is the single most important challenge facing our planet today: climate change. Long before it became fashionable for climate change to be mainstreamed into the global agenda, Micronesia was in the forefront of those speaking out for action against what is now recognized as a global emergency. For years, we have argued that, as a small island developing State, we are among the most vulnerable, and that climate change threatens our very existence. We have come a long way in a short time. Consider where we were just 15 years ago when the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was signed: climate change was then considered by most as hypothetical and as a threat that was more imagined than real. Now, climate change is accepted as a reality and its adverse impact seen as inevitable and life-threatening, most especially to small island developing States like Micronesia. The current sense of urgency paid to climate change by the world community, as evidenced by high-level meetings around the world, is truly encouraging, but we are still far from reaching the objectives of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol. We need to take collective action now and act responsibly to save our planet, while taking into consideration the principle of common but differentiated responsibility. If our actions are to be effective, it is imperative that we pursue the climate change agenda both with a sense of urgency and within the framework of the United Nations. It is important that acknowledgment of the threats of climate change be accompanied by provision of adequate and additional financing by the developed countries to the most vulnerable to assist us in coping with our adaptation and mitigation requirements. We therefore support an appropriate institutional arrangement for the Adaptation Fund that is responsive to the needs of small island developing States. Adaptation and mitigation have many faces, one of which is the pressing need for small island developing States to have increased access to renewable sources of energy, so that we can move away from our long dependence on fossil fuels. In that regard, I must acknowledge with gratitude the kind assistance extended by the Governments of Italy, India and others to small island developing States of the Pacific. In March, Micronesia presented its proposal for adjusting the Montreal Protocol in order to enhance its effectiveness. Although our proposed adjustment was aimed at improving the effectiveness of the Protocol’s ozone mandate, Micronesia has a special interest in the significant climate benefits associated with the Montreal Protocol. We welcome the positive outcome of the historic nineteenth Meeting of the Parties. We hope that other relevant multilateral environmental agreements will also make similar efforts to produce climate benefits. Two years ago, at the eighth Conference of the States Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, which was held in Curitiba, Brazil, the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau showcased the Micronesia Challenge. A collaborative effort among the island States and territories of the North Pacific, the Micronesia Challenge exemplifies the best of the Micronesian spirit of working together towards a common objective and with shared concerns. In effect, the Micronesia Challenge sets aside for conservation at least 30 per cent of our marine and 20 per cent of terrestrial biodiversity across the Micronesian region by 2020. We are grateful to the regional and international organizations and non-governmental organizations that have provided support to realize the objectives of our initiative. We are seeking international partnership and assistance to overcome the many obstacles that inhibit the implementation of the Micronesia Challenge. My Government urges the Global Environment Facility to join with others such as the Government of Turkey in providing assistance to that end. I cannot overemphasize the critical role that information and communication technologies play in the socio-economic development of developing countries, particularly that of small island developing States. Given that the islands of the Federated States of Micronesia are widely dispersed in the north-west Pacific Ocean, and owing to our limited resources and high transportation costs, we face many monumental challenges. To confront those challenges, Micronesia believes that access to affordable and reliable information and communication technologies offers us a solution that not only addresses our infrastructure deficiencies but also enables us to meet the aims of the Millennium Declaration, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the objectives relating to information and communication technologies emanating from the World Summit on the Information Society. It is a high priority of my country to bring broadband connectivity to the islands. The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States are collaborating on the development of a Pacific Ocean connectivity project that will address the need for developing information and communication technologies infrastructure in the Pacific. We hope that the project will allow our region to establish an effective partnership with the international community and help produce the kind of benefits that will help support our sustainable development goals. We will not, however, be able to implement the project without the financial support of the international community. I commend the progress on the United Nations Pacific Presence Initiative, which in the case of my country is being represented by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). For the past several years, we have voiced our concern over the lack of an adequate United Nations presence in Micronesia to assist us in addressing our development challenges. This much-anticipated initiative will be translated into reality for Micronesia later this year. It is an initiative that we will not fail to utilize to the fullest. It is therefore essential that, in keeping with the objective of the joint office to be situated in my country, the original intent with regard to staffing must be adhered to if the Initiative is going to make a difference, both in terms of the effective implementation of United Nations programmes on the ground and in enhancing my country’s capacity to access its fair share of other sources of assistance and services provided by the United Nations system. As one of the countries identified by UNDP as being among those more challenged in meeting the Millennium Development Goals, my country places high value on an appropriate level of United Nations presence in the joint office located in my country to assist us in implementation and effectively utilizing external assistance towards achieving the MDGs. My Government commends UNDP and UNFPA for developing a plan for the next five-year programme cycle that will provide financial assistance to help my country address issues of poverty and institutional capacity. The joint United Nations office will be an important vehicle and will certainly play a pivotal role in the implementation and achievement of the specific objectives of the programme. We look forward to the implementation of the programme. As custodian of a vast ocean area whose bounty we share with the international community, I would be remiss if I did not make a few comments on the issue of oceans and seas. First, I would like to express our gratitude to the Government of Norway and others that have contributed to the trust fund created to assist small island developing States in claiming their extended continental shelves in compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. We are, however, concerned about the obstacles that continue to inhibit access to the fund. There are far too many institutional barriers that need to be immediately rectified to enable use of the fund to allow island developing States to fulfil their obligations under the Convention on the Law of the Sea. As a people, Micronesians are highly dependent on their marine resources for their livelihood. We take great interest in the conservation and sustainable use of our marine and fisheries resources. We cannot help but raise concerns with regard to the issue of collateral catches or discards in commercial fisheries. While they may be considered discards to others, they are a critical resource that our people depend upon for their subsistence living. The international community should vigorously seek ways to address this issue to minimize and eliminate the incidence of catching untargeted fish. Another significant and troubling issue continues to be that of bottom-trawl fishing. It would be tragic to our marine ecosystem and biodiversity if that destructive fishing practice were to continue unabated. We renew our call, made from this rostrum years ago, for a moratorium on bottom trawling. I wish to refer favourably to the long-standing effort by Italy and many others to encourage this body to take a consensus position against the imposition of the death penalty. Last year, my country signed the statement delivered by Finland on this important subject (see A/61/PV.81). We steadfastly maintain our support for this cause. Turning to the drawn-out discussion over United Nations reform, I should like to reiterate our concern that the reform of the United Nations will not be complete without the reform of the Security Council. We also reaffirm our support for Japan and India, from the Asia-Pacific region, as permanent members of the Council. At the same time, greater representation needs to be given to developing countries, including island States and small States. While we continue to stand by our position on Security Council reform, we will support any innovative ideas that can lead to further progress on the issue, such as the proposal for an intergovernmental negotiation process. At the sixty-second session of the General Assembly, we must continue the process already begun and make every effort to achieve results. I should like to close by expressing a sense of optimism about what the nations gathered here can achieve in advancing the admittedly ambitious agenda of the United Nations. Given the challenges that we face, it is only through optimism and determination over time that we can overcome them. We in the Federated States of Micronesia will be here to do our part.