Making the United Nations Relevant to all People– As delivered –
Statement by H.E. Mrs. María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, President of the 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly
19 February 2019
Your Excellency, Ms. Lois Young, Permanent Representative of Belize and Chair of AOSIS,
Your Excellency, Ms. Joanna Wronecka, Permanent Representative of Poland
Ms. Fekitamoeloa Katoa ‘Utoikamanu, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States,
Mr. Luis Alfonso d’Alba, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Climate Summit,
Dear friends from Climate Analytics, Dear all,
It is indeed a great pleasure to be here with you today to help celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS).
I would like to thank you, Ambassador Young, for the kind invitation. I congratulate you and the Government of Belize on assuming the role of Chair of AOSIS during this very important moment and period. The topics that you have chosen during your period as Chair: climate change, sustainable development, and oceans – are all clearly very important and at the center of the UN agenda, and we are grateful for your leadership in prioritizing efforts on those issues.
I would also like to extend my appreciation to Ambassador Mohamed and the Government of the Maldives for Chairing AOSIS over the last 2 years. Under Ambassador Mohamed’s leadership AOSIS has played a decisive role in ensuring a strong voice for small island states in the first years of implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. This is relevant especially now, because of the HLPF and the Climate Summits, and of course the SAMOA Mid Term Review. AOSIS has a key role to play here. These formative years have seen a shift in international public policy towards the future we all want, and AOSIS has been a constructive voice. We thank you for your service.
Dear friends and colleagues,
I must commend Belize and all Small Island States for their unflinching and consistent leadership on the issue of climate change – these are not just words. I have been part of climate negotiations for more than 20 years so I know just how strong and decisive your voices have been. While the totality of all greenhouse gas emissions from SIDS countries is relatively tiny, many of your countries are already feeling the impacts and are already at the forefront of climate action. These experiences have firmly positioned your countries as the moral compass on the climate agenda.
As the world faces the challenge of scaling up ambition and action on climate change, your advocacy and your experience, and your pain sharing are a reminder that the world must do more.
As we approach 2020, a significant milestone in terms of climate ambition, I cannot overemphasize the urgency and necessity of doing everything we can this year to change the current dynamic. We need to of course increase ambition and scale up efforts, but we also need to walk the talk with Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), treating them as a floor, not as a ceiling.
Fortunately, we have a number of opportunities to push forward on this agenda. The High-Level Meeting that I am organizing on the 28th of March on climate change and sustainable development will be one such opportunity, as will the Synergies Conference in April; ECOSOC’s High-Level Political Forum on SDG13 in July; the Secretary General’s Climate Action Summit in September; and, of course, COP25 in January.
On my High-Level Meeting on Climate and Sustainable Development for All in March: as you heard in the joint briefing last week, the meeting is intended to take stock from Katowice, and create a narrative towards the subsequent high-level events – it will be a key moment to generate substance for the Cliamte Summit . My office is working closely with the Secretary-General’s to create synergies between the events, and to provide platforms for scaled-up ambition. The main mechanism for this at the High-Level Meeting will be the leaders’ roundtables over lunch, during which each of the Secretary-General’s coalitions will have the chance to meet and brainstorm initiatives. This will be the first time that the coalitions will be in the same room before the selection process takes place at the “stocktaking” in Abu Dhabi on 30 June.
I hope that we can count on the usual, strong support from SIDS in pushing forward on these agendas and the highest level of representation.
As we approach 2020, a significant milestone in terms of climate ambition, I cannot overemphasize the urgency and necessity of doing everything we can this year to change the current dynamic. We need to of course increase ambition and scale up efforts, but we also need to walk the talk with Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), treating them as a floor, not as a ceiling.
Colleagues,
Before closing, I would like to highlight the importance of commitment, leadership and collaboration to any prospect for success on the issues of critical importance to AOSIS and indeed to the world at large. The Campaign Against Plastic Pollution that my office has launched together with the Governments of Antigua and Barbuda and Norway is an example.
The Campaign, which aims to both address single use plastics here at the UN and advocate action at the global level, will have a number of elements. This includes a concert titled ‘Play it Out’, to be held in Antigua on the 27th of April, and a photo-exhibition at UNHQ that will help to tell the plastic story to thousands. This campaign, as you are aware, will support the stated goal of Belize to address threats to the oceans. I am open to suggestions on talent from AOSIS in the form of performers and advocates – bringing the islands spirit and creativity to the festival.
Friends,
We have a great deal of work ahead of us. However, I have no doubt that working with SIDS and with AOSIS will help to ensure success.
I look forward to your suggestions and I stand ready to support you in this journey towards greater climate action.
Thank you.
