Bangkok--Sep 30--eTurbo news
United Nations (eTurbo News) -- With nearly half of all small island nations having been hit by severe weather disasters over the last two years, and many of them having suffered major trade losses due to the dismantling of market access preferences, the leaders of many small island developing States (SIDS) spoke out during the opening week of the 59th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.
Island leaders called on the international community to take their vulnerabilities into account and to pledge support at the upcoming Mauritius International Meeting (10-14 January 2005), which will review progress in carrying out the program of action for the sustainable development of small islands since it was agreed ten years ago at a global conference in Barbados.
Following are excerpts of speeches that island leaders delivered last week before the General Assembly:
"Along with other low-lying island nations, we are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. We are already experiencing these dramatic effects - sea levels are rising, weather patterns are changing, and coral reef systems are being harmed. Urgent action is needed at the global level to halt and ultimately reverse the devastating impacts of climate change. Without such global action, our national efforts at sustainable development will ultimately be rendered meaningless," Mr. Kessai Note, Marshall Islands president.
"As an island nation, Sao Tome and Principe continues to see our very existence threatened by global warming. Our shorelines erode, our national territory shrinks as the seas rise. Is my small country to end up nothing but a tiny volcanic peak sticking up above the waves with the last of our people clinging to the land left unclaimed by the rising sea? The Kyoto Protocol must be implemented by all for the benefit of all," Mr. Fradique Bandeira de Melo de Menezes, Sao Tome and Principe president.
"While images of swaying palm trees and white-sand beaches prevail in the world's imagination, they are only one part of the story. In truth and in fact, the remoteness and isolation of Palau make it a very difficult place to develop a self-reliant economy, provide medical care and education to its people, and deter aggression and terrorism. Fuel and transportation prices are among the highest in the world (?) and our most promising hope for the development of a sustainable economy, our pristine environment, is threatened by factors beyond our control, such as the failure of all industrialized countries to come to an agreement to implement the Kyoto Protocol," Ms. Sandra S. Pierantozzi, Palau vice-president.
"Dominica and all other Small Island Developing States attach great importance to [the Mauritius
] International Meeting and hope that it will galvanize greater commitment from he International Community towards provision of additional resources critical for advancing the implementation obligations of the next phase of the Plan of Action. The focus on terrorism and the costs of complying with the requirements to prevent terrorist attacks in a region [the Caribbean
] that is renowned as a zone of peace, are challenging our commitment to social and economic development. Every cent spent on addressing this threat is a cent taken from our campaign to sustain the fight against trafficking in narcotic drugs and human beings, the pandemic of HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases, and degradation of our common environment," Mr. Roosevelt Skerrit, Dominica prime minister.
"Grenada and Haiti are now in a condition comparable to a massive bombardment. Against this backdrop, I urge the United Nations, every single nation large and small -- to intervene in those two Caribbean countries devastated by recent hurricanes. The two Caribbean countries are certifiably disaster areas. In this age of globalization, where the emphasis is on bigness, being small is definitely a disadvantage of major magnitude. Small economies cannot easily diversify production. Jobs are concentrated in a limited number of industries, namely agriculture, tourism and services. Tragically, we are now encountering a situation where our unemployed young people are easily induced into the drug trade," Mr. Baldwin Spencer, Antigua and Barbuda prime minister.
"The catastrophic events of the present hurricane season bring into sharper focus yet another dimension of the vulnerability of Caribbean countries. The January 2005 International Meeting in Mauritius to Review the implementation of the Barbados Plan of Action must seek to comprehensively address the new and emerging threats to the sustainable development of small island developing States. And may I here state that a whole new set of security issues have now arisen in the Caribbean as a result of these developments and the International Community might wish to take note," Mr. Patrick Manning, Prime Minister, Trinidad and Tobago prime minister.
"Today in Grenada there is no economy, no functioning government as we have come to accept that term, and a highly traumatized civil society. The crisis in Grenada, occasioned by nature, prompts St. Vincent and Grenadines to give the highest priority to the International Conference in Mauritius in January of next year when the specific and distinct problems of Small Island Developing States will be highlighted. We will be stressing the need for the international community to take urgent action on the problem of global warming and climate change which, if left unchecked, could lead in this Century to a global human and economic calamity," Mr. Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister, Saint Vincent and Grenadines prime minister.
"The spate of deadly hurricanes that continue to traverse the Caribbean region, have brought sharply into focus the issues on which Small Island Developing States (SIDS), including Saint Lucia, have urged the United Nations and the international community to act. We have reiterated, for example, that SIDS are vulnerable, and that special and differential treatment, fair prices for commodities and development financing are essential to their sustainable development," Mr. Julian Robert Hunte, Saint Lucia minister of External Affairs and president of the 58th Session of the UN General Assembly.
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