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
3 June 2019
Your Excellency, Mrs. AksoltanAtaeva, Permanent Representative of Turkmenistan to the United Nations,
Distinguished co-hosts of today’s celebration, Your Excellencies the Permanent Representatives of Bahrain, Canada, India, Indonesia, and Liechtenstein to the UN,
Ms. Alison Smale, Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications,
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Happy World Bicycle Day! I am delighted to be here with you on the North Lawn to gather inspiration from cycling advocates around the world.
I commend Turkmenistan for initiating General Assembly resolution 72/272 that designated 3 June as World Bicycle Day.
I also commend our co-hosts and speakers for their efforts to highlight the enormous contribution – existing and untapped – of this humble machine: to human health and well-being; to physical, social and economic mobility; and to sustainable development and environmental action.
I am particularly pleased that we are joined by 30 athletes from a dozen countries who all race with diabetes. Welcome!
Excellencies,
This commemoration of World Bicycle Day comes at a crucial time. We have just 11 years to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Doing so, will require emissions to peak next year. We have just 11 years to realize the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Doing so will require a dramatic increase in our efforts.
Part of this must be to support new technologies. But we must also ensure we are harnessing existing tools, such as the bicycle.
From reducing transport emissions and road deaths to tackling obesity and noncommunicable diseases, improving rural connectivity and empowering women and girls, bicycles can make a huge and crucial contribution.
Transport is the third-largest source of CO2. Studies have shown that if just 10 per cent of city mobility was by bike, urban transport emissions would fall by 7 percent. It would also contribute to reducing air pollution – the theme for this year’s World Environment Day – helping to save the lives of some 7 million people a year.
And I suspect there would be a significant boost – to the economy and to more peaceful societies – if people were not gridlocked in traffic!
So, we must do more to integrate bicycles into urban and rural planning, infrastructure and design. We must consider subsidies that promote bicycle use. And we must invest in education to promote the multiple benefits of cycling.
This commemoration of World Bicycle Day comes at a crucial time. We have just 11 years to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Doing so, will require emissions to peak next year. We have just 11 years to realize the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Doing so will require a dramatic increase in our efforts.
Dear friends,
Yesterday it was a historic day for my country Ecuador and Latin America. Richard Carapaz became the first Ecuadorian Gran Tour Champion after winning the Giro d’Italia, and only the second South-American cyclist to do so. Congratulations dear Richard!
On this World Bicycle Day, let us draw inspiration from his perseverance to achieve the 2030 Agenda.
Thank you.
