Tuvalu

At the dawn of the new millennium 10 years ago, Tuvalu raised its flag among those of the States Members of the United Nations here in New York as a new member of this body. Our admission was a testimony of hope and opportunity for our nation’s destiny in the resolve of humankind through the noble pillars of the United Nations, as 35 10-55276 enshrined in its Charter. I am greatly honoured and privileged to speak before this body on behalf of the people and Government of Tuvalu and to convey of the General Assembly our warmest greetings at this session. At the outset, we join the high commendations expressed by previous speakers to you, Sir, on your election as President of the General Assembly at its sixty-fifth session, and to your predecessor for his leadership and dedication during his presidency of the last session. Let me reassure your Excellency of our support during your presidency. As Tuvalu celebrates its thirty-second anniversary of independence later this week, I take this opportunity to acknowledge and convey our sincerest thanks and gratitude to the international community, especially our traditional development partners and close and new friends, for their continued support and cooperation in the pursuit of our development goals. Without their gesture of understanding, friendship and cooperation, Tuvalu could not have achieved the progress it has made to date. We welcome and support the key priority issues — such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), global governance, and the promotion of sustainable development — that you, Mr. President, clearly highlighted in your opening address to the sixty-fifth session. Last week, the General Assembly convened a High-level Plenary Meeting on the review of the Millennium Development Goals. In the context of achieving these Goals, Tuvalu has been reasonably successful. Our population does not suffer from extreme poverty or hunger. We have very high participation rates in primary education. The participation of women in Tuvalu society is prominent, although representation in Parliament remains an issue. Progress in reducing child mortality has been somewhat slow, and access to adequate health care also remains an issue. During the review of the MDGs, there was one very clear lesson that we learned. This relates to the fact that while we have made progress in achieving the MDGs, these successes can be easily and very quickly reversed by our particular economic and environmental vulnerability. In the context of economic vulnerability, the recent global financial and economic crises continue to have an enormous adverse effect on Tuvalu’s economy. For a small island economy like Tuvalu’s, which is highly reliant and dependent on the import of products from overseas, the severe impact and consequences of such crises also continue to be encountered by our people. One element of that effect was the increased cost of importing fossil fuel. The cost of fossil-fuel dependency is having a crippling effect on our national budget. We are in desperate need of renewable energy and energy-efficiency technologies that are appropriate to the unique conditions of Tuvalu. Last week, we also undertook a review of the Mauritius Strategy for the Further Implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action. During the discussions, we proposed three key outcomes. First, we need support to help regulate and police illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. Secondly, we need to ensure that our economies are able to recover after severe weather events. This means that we need a climate risk insurance mechanism that can draw on public international finance to underwrite the cost of premiums and pay-outs. Thirdly, we are seeking proper acknowledgement of small island developing States’ concerns in the United Nations process and their recognition as a discrete group within the United Nations system. Much has been said and well documented on the importance and seriousness of climate change, especially its adverse impact on small island States and least developed countries like Tuvalu. At the recent Pacific Island Forum meeting, leaders highlighted climate change as the greatest threat to the livelihoods, security and well-being of the peoples of the Pacific. Our leaders further iterated that unsustainable development and climate change threaten not only the livelihoods of Pacific peoples but also the islands themselves and the cultures they nurture. However, despite our high expectations of concrete and timely support from the international community, we were deeply concerned and disappointed at the outcomes of the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. We sincerely hope that the forthcoming Conference of the Parties to be held in Cancún later this year will lead to concrete results and not shallow promises. In view of the slow and painful progress in the ongoing negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change process, coupled with the lack of concrete commitments shown by key greenhouse gas emitting countries, Tuvalu would like to see three key political commitments come out of the meeting in Cancún. 10-55276 36 First, we would like to see all the amendments and rules for the Kyoto Protocol agreed so that such amendments are ready for ratification to avoid a gap in the commitment periods. Secondly, we should decide on a mandate to start negotiations on a new, legally binding agreement based on all elements of the Bali Action Plan. Thirdly, we should agree on a set of decisions that would provide interim steps to implement measures to be incorporated into the new legally binding agreement. That should be the bare minimum we anticipate agreeing upon in Cancún. For Tuvalu, addressing climate change in a substantive way is fundamental to our sustainable development and livelihood. We cannot allow the next conference in Cancún to be another failure like Copenhagen. Despite the fact that Tuvalu is one of the small island developing States and least developed countries most vulnerable to a wide range of global events, as alluded to earlier, the United Nations General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council have not recognized and taken such vulnerability seriously into consideration when addressing the question of graduation from the least developed country category. We strongly believe that Tuvalu’s economic and environmental vulnerability cannot be overemphasized and totally ignored, especially with the ongoing consequences of climate change and the recent global crisis. In that regard, we continue to call upon the United Nations and our development partners to recognize our vulnerability as a least developed country in the review of the criteria and the graduation rule for the graduation of least developed countries. We could not agree more as to the need and importance for the General Assembly and Security Council to be revitalized and reformed, respectively, so as to enable them to fulfil their mandates and roles in a more transparent, coherent, efficient and timely manner. We fully support the ongoing reform processes, and we believe that small island developing States should be allocated a seat in the Security Council. While we applaud and strongly support the continuing significant role played by the United Nations as the major peacekeeping body in the international community, the efforts and progress made by Taiwan in pursuing peace on both sides of the Straits needs special recognition and encouragement by the United Nations. In addition, we strongly believe that with its active involvement and contributions to international trade, investment, air transport, finance, telecommunications technology and environmental protection, Taiwan deserves to participate more fully as a member of the World Health Organization and other United Nations specialized agencies such as the International Civil Aviation Organization and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Tuvalu therefore urges the United Nations specialized agencies to accommodate Taiwan’s meaningful participation in their respective systems and activities. In conclusion, let me reiterate and underscore the importance and seriousness of climate change as a cross-cutting issue and its adverse impacts, especially the impact of sea-level rise on a small island developing State such as Tuvalu. Although we do acknowledge with profound appreciation the commitments and generous pledges offered by the international community and the establishment of international trust funds specifically earmarked for climate change, the process of accessing such sources of funds, let alone their timely disbursement, is extremely difficult and time consuming for small countries such as Tuvalu. Therefore, such commitments without timely actions to deliver concrete results on the ground may well leave small and poor countries such as Tuvalu to continue to shoulder the burden. May God Bless the United Nations.