FEDERATED STATES OF MICRONESIA
ADDRESS
BY
H.E. JOSEPH J. URUSEMAL
PRESIDENT
OF THE
FEDERATED STATES OF MICRONESIA
BEFORE THE
GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE UNITED NATIONS
AT ITS
FIFTY-EIGHTH SESSION
NEW YORK, 23 SEPTEMBER 2003
MR. PRESIDENT,
Mr. Secretary-General,
Heads of States and Governments,
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen:
I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you, Mr.
President, on your election. My Government is deeply gratified by the recognition of your accomplishments, especially given
that you are a fellow islander. We are confident you will lead the work of this body with the same high
competence as your distinguished predecessor, His Excellency Jan Kavan of the
Czech Republic.
Mr. President,
Before
going further I must pause in respectful remembrance of the second anniversary
of the terrorist attacks of September 11,
2001. We honor the memory of all who were lost. Tragically, the madness
continues and we seem to be living in
a world that is different than before. I must also express our sincere
condolences over the great loss of life recently at the United Nations
headquarters in Baghdad.
Mr. President,
I am grateful for the privilege to appear before this Body for the first
time, as President of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). We feel a
deep sense of responsibility in joining with nations present here to work
toward a better world for all peoples.
For the past several years, much of the discussion here and elsewhere
has focused on political challenges around the world. After the tragic events
of September 11, 2001, and the high threat level experienced since then, it is
not at all surprising that these challenges have
commanded the lion's share of everyone's attention. We in the Federated States of Micronesia remain committed to the eradication of terrorism in
all its forms, and will continue to play any constructive role open to us as
the world strives to reach this goal.
However, the
challenges of the environment and sustainable development that occupied so much
of our attention during the 1990's, have not gone away.
Despite the immediacy of so many pressing demands today, these remain as
challenges that the international community cannot afford to put on
hold. We cannot put them on hold because they are part and parcel of the worldwide security challenge, especially over the
longer term.
No part of our world is immune to the wide range of fundamental security
threats. War and terrorism are only consequences of
their deeper root causes, poverty, human injustice, and more recently,
environmental degradation. These are most often discussed in the context of the
more populous regions of the world, but I ask you not to overlook that they
also present themselves to the Small Island Developing States.
The unique vulnerability of our island States to all these scourges is
widely recognized. Even so, global threat assessments
most often are not followed up by a realistic allocation of resources to the
more remote, yet also more vulnerable places where threats
to global security often find their origin or seek refuge. I submit to you that
the region of the Pacific islands has too long been
overlooked in that way.
We welcomed
the initiative of the international community to address these and related
development problems during the Millennium
Development Summit. But we returned home and still find ourselves struggling
just as ever with fundamental needs.
As memories of Johannesburg are pushed into the background by seemingly more
urgent crises, our people are
beginning to ask questions about this process. They are asking whether
repetitious discussion of traditional development strategies in a lengthening
string of summit venues offers the most productive avenue for achieving real
development goals.
Misconceived private sector
initiatives and wasteful patterns of consumption may produce initially
encouraging results, but they erode "natural
capital," made up of resources, ecosystems and their contributions to
sustainability. We must consider these things with a
broader consciousness. The challenges are enormous and they are immediate. I
say to you respectfully, that business-as-usual multilateralism is not getting
the job done.
Mr. President, before going further I should say that today's Micronesians
do enjoy a much-improved standard of living by
comparison with conditions that existed when we were introduced to the world
economy less than fifty years ago. However, we still have
very far to go before we can reach the levels of even the moderately successful
developing countries, let alone the industrialized world.
In saying what I do here about my own country's difficulties I must add
that we are by no means alone. We stand with
developing countries everywhere, and fully support the positions to be
expressed here by His Majesty, the King of Morocco on
behalf of the Group of 77 and China, and by His Excellency, the Prime Minister
of Mauritius, on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island
States.
Mr. President, we must all do more. For our part we, the small island
developing states, need to ensure that we meet our
obligations and fulfill our undertakings to the global community. We are not
just supplicants; we have roles to play. My
country has made commitments to environmental responsibility in line with our
capacity. We have pledged
increased accountability and oversight of development assistance. We have
resolved to build our capacity to govern more effectively
through, among other things, increased regional inter-action.
I believe that
all developing countries should explore how we can mobilize our limited
resources, individually and collectively, even as we seek
assistance.
In that
regard, I commend to your attention the Communiqué of the Pacific Islands
Forum, issued on 16 August following the conclusion
of our annual meeting, this year at Auckland, New Zealand. It is illustrative
of the kind of regional collaboration I encourage here. For example, we in the Forum this year agreed to
an important and comprehensive
statement of principles fundamental to good governmental leadership, recognized
by all. I think that it deserves your
close study.
Serious attention also was given by the Forum leaders to the challenges
presented by international criminal elements attracted
to our region. They are attracted in part by our "out of sight, out of
mind" status. It was recognized at the Forum that
given our limitations individually, we can only confront these challenges
through regional, collective action. In such ways as these,
Mr. President, island developing countries can make our most effective
contributions.
We also are now seeing more than before, entire regions of the world
marginalized in the global economy, as witness the
sad breakdown of the WTO meetings recently. Some countries have virtually been
ignored until social and political conditions severely
deteriorated.
We hear more frequently the term - "Failed
State"- it has no clear definition, but it has been used on occasion to justify outside intervention. It may be necessary,
in the circumstances, but, Mr. President, it is in the interests of all that such conditions should not develop in the
first place. I submit that the causes of any such so-called "failure"
can be traced far beyond the borders
of the unfortunate country that is so labeled.
The time is ripe for a new way of looking at international peace and
security. No longer can economic, social and environmental
issues exist in a parallel universe, divorced from geopolitical considerations.
The linkages are becoming all too clear - as the alarming findings of this year's UNDP
report on implementation of the Millennium Declaration confirm.
Mr. President,
Despite our own best efforts, we still face the full range of threats to
our natural environment. These threats are not diminishing.
In fact on a global scale, progress by the world community has been glacial in
the face of ever more pressing demands for action. We may say to ourselves that
any disastrous outcomes lie well in the future, but we can only act in the present. We are literally making, or failing to make
life decisions for the yet unborn. I remind us all of
the well-known Precautionary Principle, which has been enshrined in virtually
every United Nations document related to environment and
development. Yet, it is being mocked.
One of the most clear and present
emergencies has figured prominently in our statements in general debate every year since our country became a UN Member - I refer to the need for
immediate international action to combat climate
change. Regrettably, I cannot speak with any less concern this year. If
anything our appeals must become more
urgent. At a time when we speak of many wars, there is also the War Against
Climate Change - a war that Mankind
cannot afford to lose.
I know you can appreciate better than most, Mr. President, that for my
family and me, the issue of climate change is a present reality. My
island, Woleai in Yap State is an atoll with no point higher than two meters
above sea level. The frequency and intensity of storms in our region has been
increasing for some time.
During the last year we experienced three major typhoons as well as
other destructive storms. One of them triggered massive
mudslides on the State of Chuuk's higher islands, and fifty people died. In Yap
State, a recent storm washed away a large and very old
cemetery. These and similar recent events in our other states are
unprecedented. Everything we are, and hope to achieve as a people, is under
grave threat because of global climate change.
Having confirmed that the climate change crisis is real, the entire
world also now possesses indisputable evidence that its
steady progression can be laid at the doorstep of human activity. Yet some of
the worst polluters among the industrialized countries see it
as their top priority to protect vested interests. They are purposely delaying
the immediate action that is required to begin to turn
the tide of destructive climate alteration.
In the
Framework Convention it was agreed by all that those bearing the responsibility
for causing this problem must take the lead in solving it.
Yet, Mr. President, I must ask today, "Where is that leadership?"
It is very sad that the Kyoto Protocol, which is a positive achievement,
has been converted by some governments into a political target - a rallying cry for the worst polluters. In fact,
it represents nothing more than a small first step that must be followed up by strong subsequent actions if the War
Against Climate Change is to be at all effective.
The scornful attitude toward the Protocol shown by some countries will doom the
entire Framework Convention to utter
failure if the current situation remains unchanged. The Kyoto Protocol must be
brought into effect without further delay. The industrial powers cannot
continue to make the plea of Saint Augustine, "Lord, make me the servant, but not yet awhile."
Mr. President,
Since our people live in such close harmony with the natural environment,
we also face a host of other pressing environmental issues. Our coral
reefs, are getting a great deal of international attention partly because of
their potential for commercial exploitation. We appreciate those possibilities
and are determined to preserve our legal rights
in any exploitation that takes place.
But we also appreciate the reefs as our natural buffers against the sea,
and the hosts for marine resources far beyond the
regular bounty of present-day fishing. This is more than a resource - it is a lifeline for any island country. The serious
decline in the health of coral reefs all over the world must be reversed.
Stocks of our only substantial economic resource, tuna, have seen a
marked decline in recent years. Other species, and key
elements of the ocean ecosystem are also now imperiled as never before. The FSM
will be lobbying for an aggressive oceans resource protection policy in both
the regional and international arenas.
Water itself, Mr. President, and access to it, is very much a threatened
resource in our country where we are surrounded by
the ocean but have limited fresh water. We rely upon rainwater, and its
collection in the lens that lies beneath our
atolls. Every drop is precious. We say that a vulnerable life such as a
child's, is like morning dew on a taro leaf, to
be handled with care so that it does not slip away.
You may be surprised to learn that islands in the Pacific Ocean, so often
pictured in everyone's dream of Paradise, are more concerned about drought than
any other natural threat including typhoons. Not only do we experience the
salt-water corruption of our fresh water and food crops from increased storm
activity and sea level rise, but we also now must try to
cope with droughts brought on by increasingly unpredictable El Nino activity
linked to climate change.
Fortunately, Mr.
President, the world in general seems to be waking up to the universal human
requirement for access to adequate, clean water.
The special exposure of island countries received welcome attention at the
recent Third World Water Forum in Kyoto. In addition,
I wish to point to a very important, first-ever inter-regional
Mr. President,
I have spoken
much about my country's concerns, but of course we are not alone in these
concerns. The world's small island developing states
face largely the same set of issues, in different degrees.
For this reason we were grateful for the international attention
generated by the first UN Global Conference on the Sustainable
Development of Small Island Developing States, held in Barbados in 1994. The
Barbados Programme of Action that was the
product of that Conference has been a limited success. The Conference succeeded
in focusing attention on the unique
set of problems our small island nations face. However, it seems the international community has to some extent been
content to raise awareness of the issues, while showing a waning interest in implementing specific measures during the years
following the Conference itself.
We applaud
the decision to hold a follow-up conference in Mauritius in 2004, and look
forward to a frank evaluation of the progress, or lack thereof, in implementing
the Barbados Plan of Action during the past ten years. It is my hope that the Mauritius conference will afford an opportunity to regain lost momentum.
Mr. President,
This is a landmark year for my nation. We have completed seventeen years
in a post-trusteeship political relationship
with the United States. By all accounts this has been a success. Never'before
has free association been attempted on this scale.
I am pleased that both my country and our development partner, the
United States, have seen fit to continue this relationship
into the future by amending the treaty between us known as the Compact of Free
Association. As we celebrate the success that this
renewal represents, it is proper to recall the long and effective stewardship
of our region by the UN Trusteeship Council.
We are grateful
for the lasting contribution of the United Nations system to the history of
Micronesia, and look forward to continuing to work in
this body and others in the UN system to reach our collective goals.
Mr. President,
In closing, I would like to refer to the words of the American President,
Franklin D. Roosevelt, who once said, "If I were
asked to state the great objective which Church and State are both demanding
for the sake of every man and woman and child in this country, I
would say that the great objective is a more abundant life." I believe
that the President was speaking of true abundance, not only in a
material sense, but also of the security of mind and body that comes with freedom, opportunity and human
fulfillment.
We must ask ourselves whether what we are striving for here at the
United Nations is faithful to that lofty ideal. This
Organization is the greatest forum ever created on this planet. It cannot
afford to allow its important role in conflict management to push aside the
even greater task of managing the conditions that produce those conflicts. We bring together here, under the guidance of the Charter, for the first
time in human history, the resources of all kinds
necessary to lead Mankind to a more abundant life. Let it not be said of us later
that we failed in that task.
Thank you, Mr. President