Dr. Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu, President of the Council of ICAO,
Dr. Liu Fang, Secretary General of ICAO,
Distinguished delegates,
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am delighted to participate in this timely event. Air transport is an important driver of development worldwide. The aviation sector can have far-reaching impacts on sustainable development. It can define what is possible: how quickly people can come together, how rapidly we reach disadvantaged countries, how quickly goods can reach their destination.
In September of this year, world leaders adopted the historic 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs). The issue of sustainable transport is woven into many of the SDGs.
For example, SDG 8 on “sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth” would be impossible to achieve without a strong and effective civil aviation system. Today, aviation contributes to roughly 3.5 per cent of world GDP and supports the employment of 58 million people worldwide.
Likewise SDG 9, to “build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation” can be met only if investment in aviation infrastructure is part of the picture. The ICAO has been proactively working on this with the international community.
Aviation can also promote social inclusion and provide critical transportation and logistical links to hinterlands, islands and remote communities. Aviation can bolster essential services such as healthcare, mail, education, emergency aid, humanitarian assistance and data collection for scientific research and meteorology.
Civil aviation is also fundamental to achieving SDG 13 on climate change. Through the increased use of low-carbon technology, environmentally friendly materials, new aircraft systems and sustainable energy sources, the air transport sector is making significant advances on environmental issues.
I would also like to congratulate ICAO on its successful capacity building and assistance strategy. It has enabled the development and voluntary submission of Action Plans to reduce aviation CO2 emissions by Member States, representing over 80 per cent of global international air traffic.
Of course financing will be needed to achieve the SDGs. Member States worked tirelessly to come to an agreement on the Addis Ababa Action Agenda at the Third International Conference on Financing for Development in July this year. This process laid out the steps to take to fund the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Through this outcome documents, Member States committed to develop and invest in efficient transport and transit systems.
The Secretary-General’s High Level Advisory Group on Sustainable Transport (HLAG–ST) has a shared understanding that aviation is an important sector for developing sustainable transport solutions. To underline this, the SG invited two new members from the aviation sector as Principals and DESA asked ICAO to support the Technical Working Group. Together we are working to develop concrete policy recommendations which will be reflected in the Global Outlook Report on Sustainable Transport due for release end of 2016.
Clearly, many organizations and individual actors have an important role to play in advancing sustainable transport and in particular, sustainable aviation. ICAO is a leader in this regard. I pledge the full support of my team at UN DESA.
Thank you.