Remarks by H.E. Mr. Abdulla Shahid, President of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly
16 May 2022
Her Excellency Aminath Shauna, Minister of Environment, Climate Change and Technology of the Republic of Maldives,
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Thank you for the invitation to address today’s discussion.
Mr. President, as both a fellow Maldivian and advocate for resilience, I commend your leadership and efforts to strengthen our tiny nation against the tides, literally and figuratively, of climate change.
As a small islander, I know all too well the impacts of climate change on those most vulnerable. It is a reality that we live with day in and day out.
I am thus encouraged that, along with the commitment to keep the 1.5°C alive and to reinvigorate efforts to mitigate climate change, the international community was able to launch the Glasgow-Sharm el Sheikh work programme on the Global Goal on Adaptation. I welcome progress made outlining the scope, the institutional arrangements, objectives and activities of the work programme to be concluded by COP28, for the first Global Stocktake.
While the global goal on adaptation is often an overlooked aspect of the Paris Agreement, it is becoming an increasingly important one. We see this every day that climate change brings new impacts to our world. Drought. Wildfires. Floods. Increasingly severe storms. And of course the ever-present threat of sea-level rise, all give further impetus to us to adapt and to support adaptation.
Clearly, more needs to be done to bring the Global Goal on Adaptation to life. On that note, I commend this launch event of the Glasgow-Sharm el-Sheikh work programme on the global goal on adaptation, which will help to drive momentum in this regard.
Excellencies, as we look ahead, I would make three key points.
First, we must ensure coherence. Adaptation and resilience go hand-in-hand, and building resilience is fundamental to delivering on, and maintaining, the 2030 Agenda. We must ensure that our adaptation efforts are in sync with our efforts to achieve the SDGs.
Second, is the ever critical need to secure financing. While acknowledging and commending countries who have contributed, I wish to reiterate that we still need 50% of climate finance to go towards adaptation and to ensure that we do not leave behind all those who are already on the front lines of climate impacts.
We cannot forsake the billions of people who are threatened by climate impacts that are largely the result of our own delay. We must move forward in concert, mitigation and adaptation, together. Access to finance is particularly critical for Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States, who require sufficient and predictable financing.
And third, our efforts must be context specific. This makes the attempt to define a global goal ever more difficult. But, climate impacts vary from country to country, and even community to community. Mountainous areas may suffer landslides; glacial regions may see flooding; coastal areas may see erosion. There is no one size fits all and adaptation must be done with local governments and citizens at the forefront. So, taking into account specific contexts is important.
Excellencies,
I have no doubt that together we can find a balance and a path forward that allows stakeholders to secure financing, to design context specific programmes of action, and to drive forward sustainable development efforts that are resilient and adaptation appropriate.
I thank you.
