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
28 March 2019
Distinguished Heads of State and Government,
Distinguished Ministers,
Esteemed Secretary General,
Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,
Special Envoy of the Secretary General for the Climate Summit 2019,
Representatives of youth organizations
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen:
It is my pleasure to bid you welcome to this high level meeting.
I thank the presence of the distinguished Heads of State and Government, which is a clear demonstration of their commitment on the climate cause.
I also wish to emphasize the leadership of the Secretary General, a true climate activist; and, of course, the prominent work of my dear friend and Latin American colleague Patricia Espinosa.
We are here for a very powerful reason: we are the last generation that can prevent irreparable damages to the planet and to its inhabitants.
All around the world, thousands of students are mobilizing to demand answers for climate change. Their messages are clear and direct: “There is no planet B”; “The time to save our planet is now “; “Not one degree more, not one species less“; “There is no future without our planet”.
Not hearing them would be a mistake, as to think that we still have much time ahead.
In this context, Excellencies, allow me to refer to three topics.
Firstly, I would like to emphasize the urgency of the need for action.
We are in a truly critical situation: eleven years is all we have to achieve this turnaround and change course. The last report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has raised the alarm and prevents us from claiming ignorance about the situation we are facing.
Phenomena like Cyclone Idai, which has devastated Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe, with hundreds of people dead and millions of people affected, are tragedies that alert us about what we can and must prevent.
As the Secretary General has pointed out, this is one of the worse meteorological catastrophes in the history of Africa. I wish to acknowledge the quick response of the UN emergency teams since the crisis began and at the same time I join the Secretary General in its call to address, as soon as possible, the terrible situation that our sisters and brothers are facing in the affected countries.
2019 must be the year of climate action; at all levels, with all stakeholders.
We need changes at the individual level. Every day, all of us can lighten our carbon footprint, with the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the transportation we choose and the garbage we produce.
Clearly, we need to modify our consumption patterns. This is not only a world of shortages; it is also a world of excesses, of over-consumption. A great paradox is that every year 1.300 million tons of food is wasted, while almost 2.000 million people suffer from hunger or malnutrition.
The same is applicable, of course, at a systemic level.
Development in harmony with nature is possible. We need to restructure technology and energy, our ways to produce and consume. There are thousands of projects, initiatives, cases of success, promising experiments of circular economy. We know what we need to do; we must broaden and multiply what we are already doing. For it, we need more cooperation, more resources, and more technology transfer of low carbon technologies.
Increase in agricultural production must go hand in hand with measures to preserve forests, the lungs of the world which, every year, absorb the equivalent to 2000 million tons of carbon dioxide.
The battle of sustainability is also fought in cities, where 70% of global carbon dioxide emissions are produced, which is why local governments play a decisive role in climate action.
I invite us to commit to make 2020 the last year in which these emissions caused by human activity increase.
Secondly, I would like to refer to the profound interdependence between the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda.
Without climate action, we will not have a sustainable development. The 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement are compacts for transformation that reinforce each other.
Reaching the Sustainable Development Goals will allow reaching the climate goals and would even contribute to limit global warming to 1.5°C. This would prevent, just as the scientific community has warned, catastrophic impacts on the economy, the environment and the livelihoods of millions of people.
Bold climate action also has gigantic economic benefits. The sustainable energy sector alone could create approximately 18 million job positions. At the same time, the cost of not taking action is 2 trillion USD per year in productivity losses alone.
The impacts will also be felt in human health and wellbeing. Fighting climate change is the best antidote for poverty; to reduce the amount of children who breathe polluted air, which is currently more than 93%, or to reduce the more than 2 million climate-displaced people in 2018 alone.
A comprehensive approach is essential to make progress both in the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement. In the following months, several moments will allow us to synchronize and realize these commitments even further, such as the upcoming High Level Political Forum of ECOSOC in July and the SDG Summit of the General Assembly in September.
Similarly, the Climate Summit organized by the Secretary General, which will be an action platform to consolidate alliances and mobilize the resources needed to respond to the climate emergency.
Therefore, it is not only about preserving what we have today; it is about, above all, guaranteeing a safe and healthy life for future generations. It is about living in a world in which the rights to health, education and housing, to security, for children and young people, are possible. It is about preserving our biological diversity, our oceans, our rivers and glaciers. This is not a matter of aesthetics, it is not an option, and it is about balance, equilibrium, harmony, survival. Therefore, it is about how HISTORY will remember us.
And, lastly, I would like to point out that climate change is a challenge that must be addressed with a cross-generational approach.
It is a matter of survival, for all of us, without exception. Children, young people, adults and elders, we all inhabit the same home house and, therefore, we must preserve it working together. The role of young people as agents of change is essential. Youth coalitions and organizations that are here with us today are crucial for climate action. Climate justice is also cross-generational justice.
Therefore, it is not only about preserving what we have today; it is about, above all, guaranteeing a safe and healthy life for future generations. It is about living in a world in which the rights to health, education and housing, to security, for children and young people, are possible. It is about preserving our biological diversity, our oceans, our rivers and glaciers. This is not a matter of aesthetics, it is not an option, and it is about balance, equilibrium, harmony, survival. Therefore, it is about how HISTORY will remember us.
Excellencies,
Humankind is at a crossroads. This is the moment in which we decide the path we wish to take. The countdown has begun to take the actions that need to be taken and avoid reaching a point of no return in global warming. We already know the results of inaction, which strikes hardest, the most vulnerable, such as Small Island Developing States.
Multilateralism and cooperation are our best tools. We must exercise our leadership; we must act collectively and responsibly. Let us do our part and a little more. We are still in time.
I am sure that today’s event will be an accelerator for our commitment to climate action, with sound and innovative proposals that will allow us to fulfill our promise to “ensure that all human beings can fulfill their potential in dignity and equality and in a healthy environment”. What we do today will fuel the hopes of us today and the hopes of the ones to come.
Thank and welcome again.
