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STATEMENT BY

MR. MARTIN ZVACHULA,
REPRESENTATIVE TO SECOND COMMITTEE

PERMANENT MISSION OF
THE FEDERATED STATES OF MICRONESIA
TO THE UNITED NATIONS

IN THE
FIFTY-FIFTH
UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY

BEFORE THE SECOND COMMITTEE
ON AGENDA ITEM 95:
ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

New York, October 20, 2000

Check Against Delivery

Mr. Chairman,

Since it is the first time my delegation takes the floor in Second Committee in the present session, we would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on your election to this office as we congratulate the other members of the bureau. My delegation is convinced that under your skillful leadership we will be able to bring the Committee's work to a successful conclusion. We would also like to thank the Secretariat for preparing the very comprehensive reports in front of us.

Mr. Chairman,

My delegation associates itself with the statement made by the distinguished representative of Nigeria on behalf of the G77 and with the statement to be delivered by the distinguished representative of Samoa on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States.

Mr. Chairman,

Within the last several hundred years, the onset of industrialization and technological advance has created a multi-national appetite for luxury and consumption that seems unquenchable. But compelling scientific evidence tells us today that this headlong pursuit, if not moderated within the twenty-first century, threatens the lives of all our descendants and the very habitability of the planet that we so recklessly continue to abuse.

It is clear that the United Nations and especially the Second Committee, has a full and compelling agenda for the coming century. All nations of the world, developed and developing, must approach the crucial problems our environment faces with far greater commitment to timely progress than exists today if, during the Twenty-First Century, the world is to be made a more secure and habitable place for all its peoples. In my small-island nation, for example, we grow increasingly alarmed over the glacial progress of the world community toward taking even minimal first steps to confront the indisputable threats posed by human-induced global warming and its consequent sea-level rise.

Appeals for new commitment and political will have been made for years, but have rarely been listened to. My delegation, however, chooses to take encouragement from the emergence of great processes sponsored by the United Nations during the last decade, including the agenda for environment and development, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, to name only a few. All these Conventions must acquire a sense of urgency which is not now present, if the United Nations is to remain truly our best hope for the future.

Mr. Chairman,

The ocean is a critical component of the livelihood of island people like us in Micronesia. The vast oceanic area under our jurisdiction has been a source of livelihood not just for us but also for other countries and requires careful management to preserve it. Preservation of this resource and maintaining its marine diversity is critical to everybody's future.

Agenda 21 and the Barbados Program of Action on Small Island Developing States remain the basic guidelines for protecting the environment and achieving sustainable development. Action is needed to implement the objectives of Agenda 21 and we are looking forward to the ten-year review of the UN Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED) in 2002.

The Federated States of Micronesia is committed to achieving a successful outcome to the Conference of the Parties (COP VI) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in November. We welcome the formulation of specific tools such as the Clean Development Mechanism, which promise to be useful in enabling island countries to do our part to combat climate change, and to adapt to its consequences within the parameters of our own national circumstances. We give priority to have the Kyoto Protocol come into force at the earliest possible date and urge all countries to sign and ratify it as early as possible. It is however tragic that we have arrived at a stage where prevention alone is not sufficient. Now we have to adapt to the very climate change while the ones responsible for it will be the least affected.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.