Island nations unite at UN: ‘Empty pledges’ will not save future generations
As wars and crises dominate global headlines, leaders from small island developing States used the UNGA platform to sound the alarm on climate change.
By Vibhu Mishra of UN News
Separated by oceans, the leaders were united in their call on the international community to prioritize urgent action and financial support to combat the climate crisis, emphasizing that their nations are in crosshairs of the emergency and already bearing its impacts.
As the small island States continue to fight for their survival, their united message to the world on Wednesday was clear, the time for action is now, and the global community must be united.
We understand what it means to be vulnerable
Wavel Ramkalawan, President of Seychelles – off the African coast, in the Indian Ocean – stressed that climate change “remains the foremost challenge facing humanity” and failure to address its effects will devastate current and future generations.
“As a small island State, Seychelles understands what it means to be vulnerable. We are on the frontlines of the climate crisis,” he said.
It is an irreversible threat to people, economy and way of life.
“Rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and the degradation of our oceans are stark reminders of the urgent need for global action on climate change,” he added.
Calling for decisive action, President Ramkalawan made it clear, “words are nothing without deeds.”
Comparing global military expenditure that reached $2.5 trillion last year, the $100 billion – at the highest estimates for loss and damage – “seems modest and insignificant.”
No one is immune
Off the Atlantic coast of Africa, President of Cabo Verde, José Maria Pereira Neves, emphasized that while small island States are the first affected by climate change, the impacts extend deep into the hinterlands.
“No one immune to this catastrophe in the making,” he said, urging immediate attention to rising sea levels.
The challenge is multidimensional and extends far beyond island and coastal populations, affecting all continents and regions, he added, welcoming the high-level meeting on Addressing the Existential Threats Posed by Sea-level Rise, held earlier in the day.
He also noted the disproportionate impacts of climate change on vulnerable nations, especially small islands and urged bolder commitments from high-emission countries as well as swift implementation of climate policies and funding mechanisms.
Triple planetary crisis
Across the Atlantic Ocean, in the Caribbean Sea, the climate crisis remains a shared battle.
Luis Rodolfo Abinader Corona, President of the Dominican Republic, highlighted the “triple planetary crisis” – three key interlinked challenges confronting humanity: climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.
He stressed his country’s commitment to helping establish the fund loss and damage and achieving the 30x30 goal in protecting our maritime territory.
That initiative aims to have 30 per cent of the world’s land, inland waters and oceans under protection by 2030.
Click here for the statement (in Spanish).
‘Break free from pattern of empty pledges’
Speaking next from the group was Mohamed Irfaan Ali, President of Guyana, which despite being situated on the mainland, shares several of the vulnerabilities as small islands.
He said that among myriad challenges confronting the world, “climate change threatens our very existence,” as he underscored the need to follow through on commitments already made.
“Each year, we make the annual pilgrimage to COP, filled with hope for tangible outcomes,” he noted, referring the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
“And each year we are regaled with renewed unkept promises. This cycle of hope followed by disappointment cannot continue if the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are to be met,” he lamented.
“We must break free from this pattern of empty pledges. We must, unequivocally and immediately, fulfil all pledges for the sake of our planet and the future of all its inhabitants,” he underscored.
Climate change not a distant or abstract issue
Moving north to Dominica, nestled in the windward islands of the Caribbean Sea, President Sylvanie Burton also highlighted the “daily reality” of climate change that her country faces.
“We have said it time and time again. We see it so vividly, year after year, that our communities are on the frontlines, facing intensified hurricanes, devastating floods, and prolonged droughts,” she said.
She recalled the devastation wreaked by Tropical Storm Erika in 2015, which wiped out 96 per cent of Dominica’s gross domestic product (GDP), to be followed in 2017 by Hurricane Maria that destroyed over 225 per cent of the GDP, “in a matter of hours.”
“Mere hours… That is why, this year, we watched in agony as Hurricane Beryl swept through the island-States of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Barbados, and Jamaica,” she noted.
Stressing that such tragedies reiterate that the “time for rhetoric has long passed”.
“Business as usual, simply will not suffice. We need urgent, bold, and decisive action to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as science clearly dictates,” she said, calling for a drastic reduction in emissions, honoring financial commitments and building resilience, especially in regions most at risk.
‘We will not go silently to our watery graves’
On the other side of the world, in the Pacific, President Hilda Heine of the Marshall Islands echoed the urgency, emphasizing that rising seas are already consuming her nation’s coastline.
“Sea levels have risen, and we are too late to prevent them from eating away at our shores. But we must also be clear: we will not be wiped off the map, nor will we go silently to our watery graves,” she declared.
She underscored that world leaders must do all they can to prevent the melting of the cryosphere – the frozen areas of the Earth, on land and in its oceans.
Referring to the new Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) climate action plans, to be presented by all nations by February next year, she urged governments to show ambition and cooperation.
“We all agreed last year,” President Heine stated, to scale up renewable energy and energy efficiency, and accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels and end fossil fuel subsidies.
“Despite this, we have seen some of the planet’s wealthiest countries break their pledges, as they double down on fossil fuels. This failure of leadership must stop – no new coal mines, no new gas fields, no new oil wells,” she stressed.
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This story was first published by UN News.
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