Statement by H.E. Jane Chigiyal
Permanent Representative of the Federated States of Micronesia to the UN
New York, 3 March 2022
Mr. President,
The Federated States of Micronesia associates with the earlier remarks delivered by Pakistan on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, Fiji on behalf of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), and Samoa on behalf of the Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS). I will therefore confine myself to a topic of particular concern:
Territorial threats of climate change
Like the rest of the Pacific small island developing states, Micronesia is a big oceanic state (BOS) comprised of small islands whose combined landmass covers only 271 square miles but which produces entitlements to an exclusive economic zone that is the 14th largest in the world at 1,156,824 square miles. The areas within our national jurisdiction are vast, comprising an expanse of ocean in the Pacific approaching the size of the continental United States.
With the warming of the ocean and the rising of the seas, my country and people are at the precipice of an incoming, exacerbated Climate crisis. We have come to realize that the ocean has many responses to man’s activities around and upon it – the displacement of our people, the loss of culture and identity, and the depletion of ocean resources, just to name a few.
But the worst of it is that if sufficient action is not taken to securing the Paris Agreement goals, entire islands could disappear. The recent release of the second part of the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change underscores that climatic impacts are occurring faster than the international community’s current ability to adapt to them. The question of the territorial integrity of states thus arises from the consequences of climate change and sea-level rise, as well as a question of possible implications for our maritime zones and the rights and entitlements that flow from them because of climate change-related sea-level rise, including our rights and entitlements to fishery resources in our EEZ.
The landmark Declaration on Preserving Maritime Zones in the Face of Climate Change-
related Sea-Level Rise adopted by our Pacific Leaders is the Pacific’s strongest response on the issue. The Declaration proclaims., among other things, that our islands’ “maritime zones, once established in accordance with the UNCLOS and notified to the Secretary-General of the United Nations in accordance with UNCLOS, and the rights and entitlements that flow from them, shall continue to apply, notwithstanding any physical changes connected to Climate Change-related Sea-Level Rise.”
Mr. President,
Micronesia encourages the international community to favorably consider the Declaration and its overarching objectives, and that our Common Agenda also reflects it.
