69th United Nations General Assembly Second Committee Agenda item 19: Sustainable Development Statement by Mr. Jeem Lippwe Deputy Permanent Representative New York, 16 October 2014

Mr. Chairperson,
Let me join others in congratulating you and members of the Bureau for your election to this important committee,

I associate my statement with the statement made by the representative of Bolivia on behalf of the Group of 77 and China I also wish to express our support for the AOSIS statement delivered by its distinguished Chair.

Mr. Chairperson,

We have heard our brothers and sisters from other small island developing states (SIDS) emphasize the fact that we small island nations face the consequences of Climate Change as a challenge to our sustainable development efforts and as a threat to our very survival. As a remote, widely dispersed nation of mostly low-lying small islands we would like to add our own unique perspective to this discussion.

We have, from the beginning of our joining the United Nations, voiced our concern about the environment, and focused our attention prominently on the issue of climate change and sea-level rise. It is very clear to us that without addressing these issues, sustainable development for island countries is impossible.

IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Reports tells us we are on track for a 3-5 degrees Celsius track. We know that changes due to global warming contributes to sea-level rise. A mere increase of a few meters would bring catastrophic disasters for the atolls in Micronesia.

We also know that our islands have done the least towards the cause of global climate change. We know too that we are disproportionately being affected by its adverse effects – effects with dire consequences on our food and water security, health of our population to the health of our ocean and coral reefs; resource access to biodiversity as well as our own personal security and the very existence of our island nations.