– As delivered –
Statement by H.E. Tijjani Muhammad Bande, President of the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly
8 June 2020
Your Excellency Erna Solberg, Prime Minister of Norway,
Your Excellency, Abdulla Shahid, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Maldives,
Your Excellency Dean Jonas, Minister for Social Transformation and the Blue Economy of Antigua and Barbuda,
Founding Members of the Group of Friends,
Excellencies,
I thank the Co-Chairs of this new Group of Friends to Combat Marine Plastic Pollution, Norway, the Maldives, and Antigua and Barbuda for organizing this virtual launch event.
I commend the leadership of the founding members of this Group of Friends for committing to tackle marine plastic pollution. This challenge is the cornerstone of SDG 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development. Therefore, it is critical that this is addressed in various multilateral fora as well as at the local, national, and regional levels.
The threat posed by marine plastic pollution was illustrated at last year’s High-Level Political Forum Declaration, which warned that current rates at which plastic litter is discharged into the oceans will have potentially disastrous consequences for humanity.
Marine plastic pollution devastates marine biodiversity: affecting more than 800 marine and coastal species. Ingestion and entanglement threaten fish stocks which are vital to global food security. Marine plastic pollution kills up to one million seabirds a year.
Moreover, Excellencies, plastic systemically poisons, wounds and infects our coral reefs. These underwater forests are home to more than 25% of all marine life. Coral reefs produce oxygen; provide food and livelihoods for hundreds of millions of people; and protect communities and coastlines from natural disaster. Today marks a turning point for urgent action to stop this free flow of plastic waste which threatens to overwhelm our oceans.
Excellencies,
We cannot afford to forget the symbiotic relationship between life underwater and life on land. Microplastics seep into our food supplies. Preliminary research suggests that these microplastics expose us to chemicals linked to reproductive harm, obesity, organ problems and developmental delays in children.
Furthermore, addressing plastic pollution will also require the dismantling of ‘plastic islands’. These plastic accumulations continuously shed microplastics into our oceans, ecosystems and the deepest marine trenches on our planet.
In the lead-up to the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, we recognize that science and innovation will be required to address marine plastic pollution. Better sea mapping, ocean monitoring and plastic tracking technologies and mechanisms, will facilitate progress.
We must also create new sustainable consumption and production patterns. I welcome encouraging actions taken by the recent Saudi and Japanese presidencies of the G20 in this regard.
To achieve action at the scale which our oceans demand, we will require wide-ranging international cooperation and cross-sectoral partnerships. We will need to harness the energy of civil society and the vitality of youth to ensure broad multigenerational stakeholder partnerships.
To achieve action at the scale which our oceans demand, we will require wide-ranging international cooperation and cross-sectoral partnerships. We will need to harness the energy of civil society and the vitality of youth to ensure broad multigenerational stakeholder partnerships.
Excellencies,
As we re-build in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic at the outset of the Decade of Action and Delivery to implement the Sustainable Development Goals, we must ensure that recovery plans and policies are aligned with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. To this end, we must accelerate ocean action and address marine plastic pollution.
My predecessors, the 71st, 72nd and 73rd Presidents of the General Assembly gave ocean issues priority. My predecessor the President of the 73rd session of the General Assembly mobilised action to successfully institute a ban on single-use plastics on the UN Headquarters campus in New York.
Today, I call on all actors to fully support the 2030 Greening the Blue Strategy for Sustainability Management in the UN system. We will be defined by our actions, and they must align both internally and externally as we work to improve the lives of the people we serve.
To conclude, Excellencies, I commend your initiative in launching the Group of Friends to Combat Marine Plastic Pollution. I thank you.
