His Excellency Mr. Anote Tong,His Excellency Dr. Dennis Lowe,Her Excellency Ms. Elba Rosa Pérez Montoya,Ambassador Ahmed Sareer,Ms. Rebecca Loustau-Lalanne,Excellencies,Distinguished Delegates,Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am honoured to join you today at this High-level Roundtable. I would like to express my appreciation to UNEP, OHRLLS, and UNDP for co-organizing this event.
I also want to thank SIDS Ministers and representatives from regional organizations for your active engagement. We appreciate the opportunity to work with you.
The overarching theme of the Second Session of the United Nations Environment Assembly, “Delivering on the environmental dimension of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” helps set the scene for this Roundtable.
Last September, world leaders adopted the historic 2030 Agenda, with 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) at its core.
The special and unique case of SIDS in sustainable development was reaffirmed in the 2030 Agenda.
Building on the SAMOA Pathway, the 2030 Agenda calls for special attention to SIDS, as they face unique challenges in the protection, management and sustainable use of environmental resources, on which island lives and livelihoods are built.
Numerous are the problems you have to deal with – from freshwater to land degradation, from rainfall variability to coastal erosion, from drought, biodiversity loss to hurricane and to natural disasters, not to mention the growing impact of climate change, which imperils the very existence of island nations.
But none of this is beyond hope.
Working with SIDS over the past few years, in the elaboration of the SAMOA Pathway and the 2030 Agenda, I have learned to appreciate the indomitable spirit of the SIDS, the talents of island communities, and the rich mosaic of SIDS history, and culture.
Island communities are humanity’s earliest explorers. If there is any hope for tackling these environmental challenges, it lies with the SIDS people themselves.
But the international community must and should honour its commitments to SIDS. In helping SIDS, the global partners are helping themselves, for you are at the frontline of the battle against climate change and for the protection of the global environment.
We must therefore tap into the synergies between the SAMOA Pathway and the 2030 Agenda, focusing on strengthening the resilience of SIDS.
We must maintain the momentum for action throughout 2016 and beyond.
At UN Headquarters in New York, we are doing our part.
One of the most concrete achievements is the establishment of the Steering Committee on partnerships for SIDS with a view to supporting the follow-up of existing partnerships, and promoting and advocating for the launch of new ones.
I want to take this opportunity to thank AOSIS for its leadership and Italy for its longstanding support to SIDS.
To ensure effective and transparent follow-up to the SIDS partnerships, DESA has upgraded the SIDS Action Platform and developed a standardized reporting template and process for SIDS partnerships.
I urge you to register your partnerships to our platform, which will contribute to the review of SIDS at the upcoming High-level Political Forum.
Excellencies,
The discussion at this roundtable will focus on two important topics for SIDS. The first topic is on partnerships in the area of oceans.
Oceans play a central role in SIDS economically, socially, and environmentally. It is crucial that we all work together, through robust partnerships, to find solutions to support SIDS in overcoming the challenges.
The second topic will be on innovative financing.
SIDS have done their part in terms of national and regional sustainable development policies and strategies. The international community must do its part by assisting SIDS in mobilising resources at the national, regional and global levels for the implementation of the SAMOA Pathway and the 2030 Agenda.
I hope that this event will provide an opportunity to share experiences and best practices in the two areas, and to encourage new and innovative partnerships to support SIDS.
I look forward to the rich discussions to come.
Thank you.
I am honoured to join you today at this High-level Roundtable. I would like to express my appreciation to UNEP, OHRLLS, and UNDP for co-organizing this event.
I also want to thank SIDS Ministers and representatives from regional organizations for your active engagement. We appreciate the opportunity to work with you.
The overarching theme of the Second Session of the United Nations Environment Assembly, “Delivering on the environmental dimension of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” helps set the scene for this Roundtable.
Last September, world leaders adopted the historic 2030 Agenda, with 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) at its core.
The special and unique case of SIDS in sustainable development was reaffirmed in the 2030 Agenda.
Building on the SAMOA Pathway, the 2030 Agenda calls for special attention to SIDS, as they face unique challenges in the protection, management and sustainable use of environmental resources, on which island lives and livelihoods are built.
Numerous are the problems you have to deal with – from freshwater to land degradation, from rainfall variability to coastal erosion, from drought, biodiversity loss to hurricane and to natural disasters, not to mention the growing impact of climate change, which imperils the very existence of island nations.
But none of this is beyond hope.
Working with SIDS over the past few years, in the elaboration of the SAMOA Pathway and the 2030 Agenda, I have learned to appreciate the indomitable spirit of the SIDS, the talents of island communities, and the rich mosaic of SIDS history, and culture.
Island communities are humanity’s earliest explorers. If there is any hope for tackling these environmental challenges, it lies with the SIDS people themselves.
But the international community must and should honour its commitments to SIDS. In helping SIDS, the global partners are helping themselves, for you are at the frontline of the battle against climate change and for the protection of the global environment.
We must therefore tap into the synergies between the SAMOA Pathway and the 2030 Agenda, focusing on strengthening the resilience of SIDS.
We must maintain the momentum for action throughout 2016 and beyond.
At UN Headquarters in New York, we are doing our part.
One of the most concrete achievements is the establishment of the Steering Committee on partnerships for SIDS with a view to supporting the follow-up of existing partnerships, and promoting and advocating for the launch of new ones.
I want to take this opportunity to thank AOSIS for its leadership and Italy for its longstanding support to SIDS.
To ensure effective and transparent follow-up to the SIDS partnerships, DESA has upgraded the SIDS Action Platform and developed a standardized reporting template and process for SIDS partnerships.
I urge you to register your partnerships to our platform, which will contribute to the review of SIDS at the upcoming High-level Political Forum.
Excellencies,
The discussion at this roundtable will focus on two important topics for SIDS. The first topic is on partnerships in the area of oceans.
Oceans play a central role in SIDS economically, socially, and environmentally. It is crucial that we all work together, through robust partnerships, to find solutions to support SIDS in overcoming the challenges.
The second topic will be on innovative financing.
SIDS have done their part in terms of national and regional sustainable development policies and strategies. The international community must do its part by assisting SIDS in mobilising resources at the national, regional and global levels for the implementation of the SAMOA Pathway and the 2030 Agenda.
I hope that this event will provide an opportunity to share experiences and best practices in the two areas, and to encourage new and innovative partnerships to support SIDS.
I look forward to the rich discussions to come.
Thank you.
File date:
Wednesday, May 25, 2016