At the outset of my
statement, I wish to offer the President and our
newly appointed Secretary-General my warmest
congratulations and best wishes for the success of the
sixty-second session of the General Assembly, which
has as its main focus the impact of climate change on
global peace and development.
As the recently concluded High-level Event
revealed, there is now a greater awareness of that issue
and of the need to address them with greater urgency.
Like the legendary Rip Van Winkle, we appear to have
finally awakened from a long and deep slumber, only
to find that the world around us is in serious danger of
degradation. Our environment has become frightening.
As a result of the increased consumption of fossil fuels
in past decades, the amount of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere has increased by more than 25 per cent,
which will, if unmitigated, eventually lead to a rise in
the Earth’s temperature of more than 5 degrees in the
years ahead. Such warming is likely to produce an
increase in sea levels of almost 2 metres. Since one
third of the world’s population lives close to coastlines,
such an elevation will have a disastrous impact on the
living conditions of many millions. At the same time,
the world’s forests are said to be vanishing at a rate of
15 million hectares a year, threatening the loss of
almost 50 per cent of the forest cover in developing
countries. Altogether, those climatic changes will take
a heavy toll on the economic and social growth of
many countries, through a higher incidence of drought,
desertification, flooding and other natural disasters.
The primary responsibility for this environmental
degradation has been laid quite rightly at the
door of those developed countries whose
industrialization policies and programmes have shown
scant regard for preservation of the global ecosystem.
By piggybacking on the natural assets of developing
countries, those States have achieved astonishing
economic and social progress and have created
consumerist societies whose appetites for ever-greater
extravagance know no bounds and must be satisfied at
all costs.
In the face of mounting evidence that climate
change does in fact imperil the Earth and its resources,
some developed States appear willing to accept
albeit reluctantly that carbon emissions must be
significantly reduced to preserve the ozone layer as a
shield from the effects of greenhouse gases. Even so,
they do not seem prepared to accept primary
responsibility for protecting the environment. Instead
of “common but differentiated responsibility”, they
speak of “shared responsibility”, clearly demanding a
greater contribution by developing countries to the
campaign against climate change. This demand often
becomes a conditionality for any development
assistance they offer.
For the many developing countries which suffer
from a chronic lack of resources, this imposition is
clearly unequal and unfair. These States, including
many in sub-Saharan Africa, small islands in the
Caribbean and the Pacific, and low-lying coastal States
like my own, are especially vulnerable to climatic
changes and, consequently, disaster prone. The
Barbados Programme of Action and the subsequent
Mauritius Strategy were both devised for the purpose
of alleviating the destructive impact of the many
natural disasters faced by these disadvantaged
countries. However, despite their initial promise, these
agreements have yet to yield the measure of assistance
needed by small States to overcome the consequences
of climate change. Invariably, these affected countries
must rely on their own limited resources to protect
their environment from harm.
Guyana fully understood and responded to the
challenges of climate change when, more than a decade
ago, it made available to the international community
almost one million acres of its pristine forest for the
study of bio-diversity and the sustainable development
of forestry. However, the future of this project is now
threatened, since financial support from the
international community has become increasingly
scarce. At the same time, as our President stated at the
High-level Event, the Kyoto Protocol rewards quite
perversely, I might add those States which burn and
pillage their resources but punishes others like Guyana
which are committed to preserving their standing
forests. This inequity should no longer be tolerated.
It is very important that any post-Kyoto
agreement be endowed with the resources necessary for
its full implementation. Development assistance
statistics have shown a marked diminution in levels
from past years, with little promise of the additional or
new financing needed for environment-related projects.
There, therefore, needs to be what has been called a
partnership for additionality which, in return for a
commitment by countries to the preservation of the
environment, will provide adequate and predictable
financing to allow them to pursue a path of accelerated
and sustainable development. It is high time to honour
the commitments made at the Monterrey International
Conference on Financing for Development.
As a country which is below sea-level, Guyana
has been further sensitized to the threat of climate
change as a result of frequent floods that wreak
economic havoc on our coastal population. The last
major inundation was in 2005, when the economic loss
suffered was, according to the estimate of the
Economic Commission for Latin America and the
Caribbean, nearly 60 per cent of the country’s gross
domestic product. Unfortunately for us, the tragedy,
occurring as it did around the same time as the tsunami
disaster, did not feature prominently on the
international radar screen and, therefore, received little
notice in the wider community. However, thanks to the
assistance of a few friendly countries and the resilience
of our own people, we are on the road to recovery. That
experience, however, impels us to renew our call in
this Assembly for the strengthening of multilateral
facilities to provide all victims of such natural disasters
with prompt and adequate relief.
As both the outcome of the High-level Event and
the statements heard so far in this Assembly make
clear, the battle against climate change cannot be won
unless a truly global effort is made to save the planet.
In the words of my country’s national poet, Martin
Carter, in his poem entitled “All are involved”:
Like a jig
shakes the loom;
Like a web
is spun the pattern;
all are involved
all are consumed (All are involved)
Therefore, unless all of us, both Governments and
peoples, accept in a deep and meaningful way the
imperative of prudent environmental management, our
civilization, such as we know it, will disappear.
In this new era of globalization, humankind has
been made acutely aware of the deep interdependence
of nations and the concomitant need for cooperation
with one another to ensure our common survival. This
awareness notwithstanding, many in the developed
world continue to practise their misguided “beggar-thy-
neighbour” policy, which effectively precludes
developing countries from satisfying the aspirations of
their people.
Take, for example, the area of trade and economic
cooperation, the main pillar on which globalization has
been built. The developed countries continue to
propagate the thesis that free trade will guarantee
prosperity for all. The reality is that most countries,
including my own, simply cannot compete successfully
in fully liberalized markets unless they are assisted in
making a gradual transition. Instead of assistance,
however, some of the preferences that we enjoyed
hitherto in some markets are being summarily
withdrawn.
Witness the unilateral denunciation last week by
the European Union of the Sugar Protocol, a legally
binding instrument of indefinite duration, which
governs the sugar exports of many African, Caribbean
and Pacific countries to Europe. This step comes in the
midst of negotiations on this issue and is clearly a sign
of bad faith. It has been taken without adequate
consultation and clarification and contradicts the
European Union’s own lectures to us on partnership
and good governance. As a result of this action,
thousands of our citizens, especially the rural poor,
whose lives depend upon the sugar industry, will likely
face great hardship. It is, therefore, imperative that in
the negotiation of future trade arrangements, including
the Doha Round, due regard be paid to the
development challenges of small States.
Similarly, in the area of peace and security there
is continuing blatant disregard of the rule of law by
many States that, in pursuit of their own selfish
national interests, do not hesitate to fan the flames of
conflict in various parts of the world. As a
consequence, millions in Darfur, in Palestine, in the
Middle East and elsewhere are forced to endure
unspeakable pain and suffering pain and suffering
which, in today’s world of instant communication, we
not only hear about but also actually see and feel in
real time. Our common humanity obliges us to call
once again for a return to the purposes and principles
of the United Nations Charter, and in particular the
peaceful settlement of disputes, wherever and
whenever they occur.
In this context, I am pleased to announce that last
month on 20 September an arbitral tribunal of great
eminence under the presidency of Judge Dolliver
Nelson, distinguished former President of the
International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, sitting
pursuant to Annex VII of the United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea, handed down a
decision regarding the maritime boundary between
Guyana and neighbouring Suriname. The President of
Guyana described the decision as just and erudite; the
President of Suriname called it fair and equitable. It
was another feather in the crown of international law,
another blow struck against the resort to force and
another victory for lawful and peaceful processes in the
settlement of disputes.
Guyana had initiated recourse to the dispute
settlement provisions of the Convention, which, I am
happy to recall, was brought into force by our
country’s ratification in 1993. Under the aegis of a
United Nations regime created by internationalism and
the rule of international law, our two small countries
can now pursue the development of their maritime
space without the encumbrance of a dispute. It is an
example of the peaceful settlement of a dispute that
others might emulate.
In further demonstration of its commitment to the
Charter of the United Nations, my Government has
placed before the General Assembly an initiative
calling for a new global human order based on the
principles of equity and social justice. It is born out of
our conviction that, given the failure of our past
efforts, the world now needs to formulate a
qualitatively different and more holistic strategy,
leading to a stronger political consensus and broad-
based partnership before the General Assembly. The
draft resolution now enjoys the sponsorship of forty-
nine States and will in time, we hope, command the
support of the entire international community.
As this new era of globalization unfolds, with its
many challenges and opportunities, I invite this
Assembly to support fully our appeal for the firm
establishment of a more enlightened and
compassionate model of multilateralism as the
cornerstone of future international relations.