Kiribati

I bring warm greetings from the Government and the people of the Republic of Kiribati, on whose behalf I am honoured to address this body this morning. Let me, at the outset, congratulate Mr. D’Escoto Brockmann on his election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty- third session. I am confident that he will provide efficient and effective leadership in guiding this session towards a productive and concrete outcome for all. I would also like to thank his predecessor for his able and effective leadership during the past session. I should also like to acknowledge the election of Solomon Islands as a Vice-President of the General Assembly at this session. We are indeed very proud to have a Pacific brother in that position. Every year, we come together as citizens of the international community to reflect on and discuss possible solutions to the daunting challenges that continue to face us individually and collectively. Climate change and sea level rise, environmental protection, food and fuel price increases and achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are among the challenges that I wish to focus on, in the interests of time and brevity. For many years, we have tirelessly appealed to the Organization to do something about climate change and to provide solutions for those seriously affected by its detrimental impact, especially those whose very existence is being threatened. Those appeals have failed to produce practical solutions for people living in low-lying small island developing States like Kiribati. While the members of the international community continue to point fingers at each other regarding responsibility for and leadership on that issue, our people continue to experience the impact of climate change and sea-level rise and practical solutions continue to elude us. The science on climate change is irrefutable. The fourth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projected an increase in sea level of 0.4 metres within this century. While that may sound minimal to most, it is quite alarming for low- lying small island developing States like Kiribati, whose elevation is no more than two metres above sea level and whose main source of water is underground aquifers. Before our islands are inundated by the rising sea, saltwater intrusion into our freshwater lens will render the islands uninhabitable. With the projected sea-level rise, Kiribati could be looking at 50 to 60 years before that happens. Presented with those findings, we have had to adopt a pragmatic approach and to formulate options for our people. We do so with a great deal of regret and a deep sense of frustration. Mitigation and adaptation strategies are and will continue to be integral components of our response to climate change. It would indeed be naive to suggest otherwise. Those strategies provide only short- and medium-term solutions. Ultimately, low-lying island countries like Kiribati will have to face up to the reality of their islands being unable to support life and to plan accordingly beyond existing adaptation strategies. Kiribati is not a major emitter of greenhouse gases. Its mitigation efforts would therefore have an insignificant impact on the global climate change situation. Nevertheless, we will do our part and explore appropriate renewable and efficient energy technologies, as well as promote replanting in our islands. While we also require adaptation strategies, our adaptation options are extremely limited, particularly given the nature of our islands. We are a country of low-lying coral atolls, with most islands rising no more than two metres above sea level. Coastal protection through seawall construction is the main adaptation measure currently being undertaken by the Government, but it is limited to the protection of public infrastructure. We simply do not have the resources to extend protection to private properties and assets. Adaptation measures, such as moving inland and to higher ground, are impractical for us. We cannot move further inland due to the narrowness of our islands, nor is there any higher ground to which we can escape from the rising seas. It is encouraging indeed to follow the emergence of many climate change initiatives. It gives us hope to see that humankind is beginning to do the right thing. We have been following developments on those fronts. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge Australia’s commitment to the Kyoto Protocol and its 08-51845 20 recent announcement of its climate change programme. New Zealand has also announced its pledge to increase financial support for climate change. We also welcome Japan’s Cool Earth Promotion Programme and the European Union’s Global Climate Change Alliance, which support practical measures to address the impacts of climate change in the Pacific island countries. The report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change also states that the concentration of greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere will continue the momentum of climate change, regardless of any substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation efforts. That effectively means that low-lying small island developing countries like Kiribati are on the frontlines of the climate change calamity. Mitigation efforts therefore will not be able to reverse our situation — a situation that we have recently acknowledged and to which my Government has provided a long-term strategy for our people’s future and survival. At the previous session of the Assembly, a question was raised regarding what we are to do when people start fleeing their countries, not because of political persecution but because of environmental catastrophe. That is the question that I want to put forward as a challenge to this session, and to which I wish to provide a possible answer, at least from the perspective of a country whose very existence is under serious threat. The relocation of the 100,000 people of Kiribati, for example, is not something that can be done overnight. It requires long-term forward planning. The sooner we act, the less stressful and the less painful it will be for all concerned. That is why my Government has developed a long-term merit-based relocation strategy as an option for our people. As leaders, it is indeed our duty to the people we serve to prepare them for the worst-case scenario. The strategy involves upgrading the skills of our people to make them competitive and marketable in international labour markets. We want to target labour markets where skills or labour gaps exist and provide labour for them. We believe that offers a win- win situation for all. We will be able to provide countries with labour and those countries will be able to provide potential new homes for our people. The strategy provides our people with an option so that when they choose to migrate, they will migrate on merit and with dignity. We hope that they will be received by their adoptive countries not as burdens or refugees, but as worthwhile members of the community with something to contribute. We have already started implementing that strategy and we are indeed encouraged by, and grateful for, the support for that approach among our regional partners in the Pacific. Under its Pacific Access Category Scheme, New Zealand randomly picks a certain number of people from certain Pacific island countries, including Kiribati, to migrate to New Zealand every year. Recently, Australia launched the Australia Pacific Technical College, which aims at training Pacific people with Australian standard qualifications that will allow them to access regional and international labour markets. The bilateral Kiribati- Australia Nursing Initiative is another example of a programme that supports that long-term strategy. We welcome them all indeed. At the regional level, in August, the leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum adopted the Niue Declaration on Climate Change. That is a reflection of our concerted regional efforts to respond to the adverse impacts of climate change, which have been severely felt across our region. As the first-ever high-level climate document in our part of the world, the Declaration is indeed a milestone. It calls for collective efforts to fight the growing threat posed by climate change to many aspects of our lives and to our future as nations. At the international level, we have been following closely the issues currently taking precedence on the United Nations agenda. It is indeed most gratifying to note that climate change is finally being given due recognition as a security issue. We welcome that development, as we believe that it is time the United Nations focused its attention on the human dimension of climate change. Discussions about carbon trading, the post-Kyoto Protocol era and even concerns over the future of polar bears have been, or are being, held. We welcome those discussions but, at the same time, we wish to express our deep concern that there has never been any discussion of the fate of humans, whose very existence is being seriously undermined by climate change. That is the challenge that I propose that this body, the President and the Secretary-General address during this session. In that connection, I commend to the Assembly the draft resolution on climate change as a security issue and a threat to international peace and 21 08-51845 security. My colleagues from the Pacific have already alluded to it, and I commend them for their support. I also wish to applaud the excellent efforts by our Pacific ambassadors in New York, as well as their leadership on the draft resolution. I am also grateful to those who have supported the draft resolution so far, as well as those who we hope will do so in the future. We in the Pacific have been strong supporters of the fight against terrorism. We now turn to those with whom we have partnered in the fight against terrorism to partner with us in our fight against climate change. Kiribati is proud to be home to the Phoenix Islands Protected Area, the largest marine protected area in the world. That was the result of a collaborative effort and partnership between Kiribati, the New England Aquarium and Conservation International. The Phoenix Islands Protected Area covers an area of around 410,500 square kilometres, making it, for now, the planet’s largest marine protected area. The Area covers over 11 per cent of our extensive exclusive economic zone of over 3 million square kilometres, while the land comprising the Area is over 3.5 per cent of the total land mass of Kiribati. The Phoenix Islands are some of the most isolated islands on Earth and are largely untouched by man. In 2002, the countries of the world made a commitment to significantly reduce the current rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. Our declaration of the Area is in part a contribution towards meeting that target, as well as a statement by which we are saying that sacrifices must and can be made. The preservation of those islands and the surrounding ocean is our gift to humankind, of which we are a part. Even now, as we confront the possibility that our islands will become uninhabitable within the century due to the rising sea levels, we recognize the value of protecting something that we believe to be the common heritage of us all. I take this opportunity to acknowledge the invaluable support and contribution of the New England Aquarium and Conservation International, our partners in this endeavour. We invite Governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, members of the private sector and individuals to join us in this worthwhile and ambitious initiative. The recent hike in food and fuel prices is being felt by all, but more acutely by those living in drought- prone, resource-poor and infertile small island developing States like Kiribati, who as a consequence depend highly on imported food. Our isolation from major markets means that the cost of transporting food items to our country is becoming more and more expensive. In addition, the cost of providing basic services to our people, who live on widely scattered islands, is also becoming a real challenge for all of us in similar situations. We acknowledge the ability of certain members of the Organization to address this global challenge. We appeal to them to assist the most vulnerable members, such as Kiribati, with their food and energy security strategies. In that regard, we acknowledge with appreciation the assistance provided to our energy security strategy by our development partners, including Japan and Korea. With regard to graduation from the list of least developed countries, the Committee for Development Policy will meet early next year to prepare the 2009 review of countries that are deemed eligible to graduate under the methodology and indicators of the United Nations. Kiribati is one of three least developed countries of the Pacific — the others being Tuvalu and Vanuatu — being considered for graduation. We believe there are pertinent issues that warrant proper consideration by the United Nations with regard to this process. One is the issue of the extreme economic vulnerability of small island developing States. Current indicators focus on improved performance on per capita income and human assets. Due consideration should be accorded to the special economic vulnerability to external shocks such as rising world food and fuel prices. While it is not currently a graduation indicator, we believe that environmental vulnerability should be taken into account when considering the cases of small island developing States such as Kiribati, Tuvalu and Vanuatu, which are among the most vulnerable to the impact of climate change and extreme weather events — which, in turn, pose major challenges to their sustainable development efforts. In that connection, I wish to commend my Pacific colleagues who have advocated the need to reform the application of the rule of graduation. We reiterate that call and urge the United Nations to reconsider the graduation rule in the light of the special economic 08-51845 22 situation and the vulnerability of those island nations to climate change and external shocks. On the Millennium Development Goals, many of my fellow members will be familiar with, and share, the genuine desire to promote the development aspirations of our peoples, which is our priority. Even with our limited capacity, we are committed to the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals. In that regard, I am pleased to report that Kiribati has launched its first report on the Millennium Development Goals. The report outlines weaknesses and strengths in the overall development efforts and in meeting the MDGs. We believe that we are on track with our progress on most of the Goals, but we also admit that we are behind on some of them. The main reason for that is the lack of data to measure our progress so far and our limited resources to implement strategies aimed at achieving the Goals. We will continue to exert efforts in meeting the targeted Goals by 2015. At this time, I wish to express our deep appreciation to our development partners, who have accompanied us on this journey and have contributed meaningfully to the realization of our development aspirations. While we commend the United Nations for the many initiatives put forward in addressing the needs of its Members, it is regrettable that it has continued to deny the 23 million people of Taiwan equal rights as international citizens to participate fully in world affairs. We believe that Taiwan has made an active contribution that has enriched the lives of many in their collaborative efforts in building and securing international peace and security. We believe that the people of Taiwan should be accorded the same fundamental right to participate as fellow citizens of the international community and to be allowed to contribute meaningfully in various sectors of the Organization’s activities. The challenges that we face are global in nature, and therefore require global solutions. We call upon the United Nations to take the lead in addressing those challenges, especially in funding, supporting and facilitating the implementation of practical solutions to the security challenges that threaten the very existence of peoples and nations, which in turn poses a threat to international peace and security.