Mr. President,
Mr. Secretary-General,
Good morning
In 1989, the Maldives hosted the first international conference of small States on sea level rise. That conference, in its outcome document – the Male’ Declaration on Global Warming and Sea Level Rise – recognized sea level rise: as a common concern for humankind; that it would cause extensive damage to land and infrastructure.
The Conference called for: urgent action against sea-level rise, the availability of resources and technology, and continuous dialogue on the issue of sea level rise.
It also called for establishing a Working Group, which eventually became the Alliance of Small Island States – to advocate and champion for SIDS in the fight for greater climate action. A fight, we are delighted, has reached the hallowed halls of the General Assembly today.
For an emergency is upon us. Threatening our way of life, our cultural identity, and our heritage. Increasing and intensifying adverse weather and natural disasters. Affecting in turn, the well-being of our people. Eroding our development gains and putting our economy at risk.
Climate change, and resulting sea level rise, demands urgent, consistent, and coordinated global action. Actions that enhance the adaptive capacity of coastal communities and low-lying island States – that are most susceptible.
Let me outline three such actions.
First: urgently increase the provision of, and access to adaptation finance.
Adaptation support has not caught up to the rate of climate degradation. We call to urgently address the imbalance between mitigation and adaptation. We urge to double adaptation financing. We ask to remove the tedious approval procedures, and conditions to access finance. And encourage financing on a needs basis.
Without support towards our specific adaptation needs, the targets set out in the Paris Agreement, and the 2030 Agenda cannot be achieved. We need political will, and a coherent approach. A necessary first step, is to incorporate the promise enshrined in the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS into the international development, and climate financing framework.
Second: operationalize the Loss and Damage Fund.
In the past five decades, extreme weather events have caused 153 billion US dollars’ worth of loss in SIDS. The pledges to the Loss and Damage Fund – at 661 million US dollars – remain woefully inadequate – compared to these numbers. We urge our partners to continue supporting the most vulnerable.
The effective deployment of the Fund is crucial for countries like the Maldives – combatting storm surges, tidal swells, and other climate induced disasters. Disasters that are wiping away decades of development gains in minutes.
Third: Transfer technology.
We have the science. We have the knowledge. And we have the tools to combat climate change. But these tools rest with advanced economies. Who, we believe, have a moral and humanitarian responsibility to facilitate the transfer of technology to SIDS and other developing countries, on favourable terms.
We also believe that the private sector can be important in boosting our technological capacity. Without access to technology, without the capacity to deploy such technology, our efforts will not be efficient nor effective.
In 1987, our capital city Malé was inundated with sea swells. We realized then, the dangers of such swells and other climate change induced disasters to low lying nations. We have since, relentlessly pursued climate action. Lobbied for stronger responses. Urged the world to limit warming to 1.5°C.
We’re utilising our own finite resources in building capacity and responding to climate change. Resources that amounted to tens of millions of dollars last year. This is money that could have gone to building schools, hospitals, housing, or training teachers and doctors to offer social protection.
But we do so, because the will to survive is embedded in our history. In our bones. Our will to thrive, our call to action, our fight to live on, will survive.
Thank you.
