I am pleased to be here in this Assembly, which brings us together for the purpose of finding more effective ways to address the pressing problems of global society. The Republic of Panama, as a founding Member of the organization, reiterates its firm commitment to the search for solutions based on dialogue and mutual respect, which contribute to the maintenance of international peace and security, which are essential for the development and well-being of humankind.
Panama is the bridge of the world, a crossroads at the centre of the Americas where all routes converge, thanks to our exceptional air and maritime connectivity, the best in Latin America and the Caribbean. Furthermore, the Republic of Panama is committed to fulfilling the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals, whose guidelines are included in the Government plan of my administration. In 50 months of administration, our Government has focused on the development of public policies that allow us to face the enormous challenge ahead, laying the foundations to reduce poverty and inequality and to provide less-favoured populations the opportunity to achieve social conditions and economic conditions that make it possible for them to live with dignity.
Advancing towards the fulfilment of the Sustainable Development Goals is an unavoidable responsibility that compels us to pay attention to the interaction of cause and effect between them. We must ask ourselves: How does the climate crisis impact the first three Sustainable Development Goals? Can we really achieve the end of poverty, zero hunger and health and well-being in the midst of the serious drought that is plaguing the planet, the floods, the devastating fires that devastate immense surfaces and the rise in ocean levels? Let us reflect on the conclusions of the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which warns us of an unprecedented escalation of changes in the climate system that is leading us into extreme situations that seriously threaten the maintenance of life on the planet. The climate crisis is a ticking time bomb and time is running out for all of us.
We have demonstrated Panama’s commitment to human existence in a concrete way with the decisions we make and the consequent actions we take. We are a country of great water wealth; our coasts are washed by two large oceans, which makes us especially aware of the importance of water to our population and to life on Earth. Panama has made an extraordinary effort to preserve our seas, reaching the goal of 30 per cent as a protected area nine years before 2030. and we have even increased our contribution to 54 per cent this year. Panama, without rhetoric but with facts, is a blue leader. I also highlight that Panama is one of the seven countries in the world to have been declared carbon negative.
In Panama we have established a carbon footprint reduction programme with a national strategy for green hydrogen and derivatives. Also, during our administration, in Panama we have imposed an ambitious energy transition agenda with the purpose of identifying and developing accessible, non-polluting energy to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by at least 24 per cent by 2050. Panama is among the 15 countries in the world most exposed to climatic and natural risks. In fact, we have already registered the first case of climate displacement in our territory, when the population of Carti Sugtupu island had to relocate due to the rise in sea level.
I want to reaffirm, on behalf of the Republic of Panama, that Panamanians successfully assumed the operation of the Panama Canal in 1999 and expanded its capacity in 2016. I assure the nations of the world that Panama is committed to maintaining the operation of the canal in a safe, efficient, reliable and competitive manner, as we have done until now.
Here before the General Assembly. Panama, as a country that contributes effectively to the protection of the environment, asks the most polluting countries to honour the commitments they have made to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. We have also seen repeatedly, in the meetings of the General Assembly and the Conferences of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, how countries commit to making changes that are later not fulfilled.
In the context of human development, it is of the highest priority to provide populations with opportunities for a more dignified life within their own countries. In that way. they would not be forced to leave their countries, emigrating irregularly, exposing themselves to the violation of their human rights and. on many occasions, losing their lives. In that regard, the problem of irregular migration must be addressed at the multilateral level, emphasizing respect for human rights and under the principles of solidarity and shared responsibility, with the purpose of safeguarding the integrity of human life, safely and in an orderly manner. Panama works actively, in cooperation with several countries of the region, in the execution of programmes to improve the care and protection of irregular migrants who enter our country through the border with Colombia, crossing the dangerous Darien jungle, the largest natural park in all of Central America.
Our country is making a titanic effort to offer solidarity to those irregular migrants, whose number increases every year, forcing Panama to allocate significant resources to humanitarian relief. This is an unsustainable, unwanted and inhumane situation; a humanitarian tragedy of pain suffering and death for hundreds of thousands of migrants who undertake that risky journey. I repeat, this is an unsustainable situation — a situation in which we are victims and not responsible. I call on the international community to address, in all its magnitude, the problem of irregular migration, which today is not concentrated exclusively in the Mediterranean, but is global in nature and directly impacting Panamanians at this very moment.
Today we reiterate the call for dialogue, peace and multilateralism, with respect for international law and the principles that support it. devoid of interests other than the well-being of peoples. In many aspects, we are in a race against time for human survival, which is the raison d’etre of the world body that brings us together and on whose actions the steps we take towards the future, as a world community, largely depend.
Today, as head of the Panamanian State. I affirm that Panama wants for the entire world the same thing it wants for its own people: peace, well-being, justice and development.