Micronesia

Allow me to congratulate Mr. Deiss on his election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-fifth session. He has taken on that formidable task at a crucial period for our United Nations. I assure him of Micronesia’s full support. I would also like to pay tribute to his esteemed predecessor for his distinguished leadership. Sadly, I wish to begin my statement by expressing the sincere sympathy of the people and Government of the Federated States of Micronesia for the many victims of recent natural disasters everywhere. Having been victims of natural disasters ourselves, our hearts go out to the victims of the recent hurricanes, earthquakes, mudslides and floods that are now occurring on an unprecedented scale and with increasing frequency and devastating intensity all over our planet. Overwhelming evidence points to one common denominator in all those events, and that is global climate change. I am deeply honoured to address the General Assembly, at its sixty-fifth session, for the first time on behalf of the Federated States of Micronesia. This Assembly accords Micronesia and the small island developing States an extraordinary privilege to bring to the whole world the most pressing issues affecting us that demand our collective response. Despite the many years of negotiations to curb its devastating effects, the climate change crisis continues to haunt us. The negotiating process has moved along very slowly, while in stark contrast the rapid increases in the incidence and severity of environmental hazards continue to take their toll, with devastating results. I cannot help but think of the needless human suffering everywhere, and what the future holds for my country and the small island developing States if business continues as usual. As a small island developing State, Micronesia’s future is intrinsically linked to the global climate. That is why we are gravely concerned by the acute environmental problems related to the extreme vulnerability of our islands to sea-level rise and climate change. Those threats are indisputable, and delays in adopting a comprehensive and legally binding agreement to avert this global disaster are without excuse. In Micronesia, we are deeply disappointed at the glacial progress in the negotiating sessions and climate change meetings of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. At the same time, we are growing increasingly alarmed by the prospect of shrinking ambitions for the meeting in Cancún, Mexico, later this year. That is not an acceptable response to a crisis of enormous proportions, certainly not for Micronesia and not for any of the small island developing States, who need fast action. This is an issue of survival for us. We must find a better response — a genuine response that supports mitigation and adaptation measures that will achieve significant reductions in 10-55109 12 greenhouse gas emissions and thus preserve the integrity of our Earth’s environment and also the livelihoods of its inhabitants. My island nation and the small island developing States, for that matter, are not major contributors to the causes of climate change. All present know that. But we are nevertheless determined in our efforts to contribute to finding solutions. For its part, Micronesia continues to take the lead to combat climate change by utilizing the opportunities under the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. Through the Montreal Protocol we can solve a big part of the climate change problem. That is why Micronesia has developed a proposal with the support of Mauritius, the Marshall Islands, Seychelles and the Philippines that calls for the phasing down of the production and use of hydrofluorocarbons. Under our proposal we will be able to eliminate one of the greenhouse gases listed under the Kyoto Protocol, and we are encouraged that other countries, such as Canada, the United States and Mexico, already have come forward with similar proposals. Frankly, we have been delighted by the interest shown in our proposal so far, and I commend it to the Assembly’s attention. Today, I encourage all delegations to consider supporting it. Our collective action is imperative if we are to effectively curb and reverse global warming. That is the kind of collaboration that I encourage here. Just as we are delighted by our Montreal Protocol proposal, we are equally proud of an initiative within our Pacific region, launched in August by the Governments of the Republics of the Marshall Islands and Palau and my own Government at the margins of the forty-first Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Vanuatu. This is the Green Energy Micronesia Initiative, which calls for a 20 per cent improvement in energy efficiency by suppliers in areas such as transportation and electric power generation, a 30 per cent improvement in energy use by end users and a 20 per cent electricity generation through renewable energy by 2020. As island countries with a total dependence on fossil fuels for our energy generation, it is no longer economically, financially and environmentally sustainable to continue down that path. We must look towards developing, utilizing and embracing our renewable sources of energy. Our prospect for success will remain grim with our limited capacity and available financial resources. We encourage and call upon our development partners and the international community to support our efforts, including through increased financial support, transfer of technology and capacity-building. In our seemingly idyllic settings as island nations, it may seem to many around the world that we live an easy life and demand action only from others. However, the reality is that our island nations are actively playing our part in maintaining, and promoting the protection of, our Planet Earth. We accept our responsibility for conserving the biodiversity of our islands and waters and for using resources in a sustainable manner. That is why Micronesia and our Micronesian sister nations the Republics of the Marshall Islands and of Palau, as well as the Territory of Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, continue to promote the Micronesia Challenge to conserve at least 30 per cent of the near-shore marine resources and 20 per cent of terrestrial resources across our Micronesian region by 2020. Given our individual limitations, we can confront these challenges only through regional collective actions. I want to express our utmost gratitude to those countries and international organizations that continue to support the Micronesia Challenge and help us achieve our goals. Being small island countries with limited resources, we see realistic success in collaborative partnership with the international community. Micronesia will continue to address the protection of the ocean and its resources. As a Pacific island country with one of the largest exclusive economic zones in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean, we ascribe particular importance to the ocean and its resources. The ocean has a fundamental and critical bearing on our food security and economic future. However, human activities on the planet are significantly affecting our ocean and can bring about disastrous consequences for our food security and sustainable development. Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in our zone remains of great concern, as that abhorrent practice continues with its sophistication and multinational criminal operations. We do maintain high expectations that through the support of the 13 10-55109 international community we can combat that illegal activity, which threatens the sustainability of our fish stocks and deprives our people of potential economic benefits. To reverse already discernable trends towards the disappearance of key tuna species that were once thought inexhaustible, early this year the leaders of the Pacific countries that are parties to the Nauru Agreement signed the Koror Declaration, agreeing to introduce further conservation measures to protect key tuna stocks. One of the measures agreed to is to close off additional high-seas areas to purse seine fishing by vessels licensed to fish our Nauru Agreement waters. Micronesia is fully committed and will work with its fellow parties to the Nauru Agreement and the wider international community to ensure the sustainability of our tuna resources. We will hold violators accountable through internationally agreed mechanisms to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in our waters and the Western and Central Pacific Ocean region. Our oceans and our exclusive economic zones are getting a great deal of international attention because of the potential for economic exploitation. We assign the highest priority to greater economic participation in all aspects of that exploitation. Increased economic participation is a major goal for all countries in the Pacific having considerable marine resources — not just Micronesia. However, our participation in the exploitation of our own marine resources for economic development is held back by a lack of experience and because much of our basic infrastructure still needs to be supported and developed. On the overall scoreboard, the Pacific small island developing States have not claimed their rightful share of their own fisheries resources. International support has to be given to help us build our capacities not only in negotiating agreements and developing our fisheries industries but in realizing a greater share of the benefits from the catch of fish stocks from our own exclusive economic zone. In this review year for both the Millennium Development Goals and the Mauritius Strategy for Small Island Developing States, we must take full advantage of both occasions and rise to the challenge to meet our world’s new and emerging needs. One of the major preoccupations of the General Assembly over the last 15 years has been the reform of the United Nations. I do not need to belabour the issue, as all present are aware of Micronesia’s long-standing position, especially in regard to the reform of the Security Council. For permanent membership, we reiterate our support for Japan and India from our Asia and Pacific region. From other regions, Germany and Brazil also deserve equal consideration. We call for accelerated efforts to bring the negotiations to a successful conclusion. Peace in the Middle East remains elusive, but we have high hopes that the resumption of direct talks recently in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere between the Israelis and the Palestinians will pave the way to a lasting peace and a final settlement with a two-State solution. The whole world has a stake in the Middle East peace process. Micronesia fully supports the peace process and urges all members of this Assembly to play a constructive role and work towards an outcome that brings permanent peace and security to the Middle East. I want to express my profound gratitude to the United States, Egypt, Jordan and the Quartet for their critical roles and leadership in finding a solution to this formidable challenge. For it to be met, we must respond with our collective action and support. I have been most privileged to have this opportunity to address the Assembly on behalf of my small island country. As I close my statement, I want to reassure this Assembly that Micronesia will continue to do its part as a responsible Member of this Organization.