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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-THIRD
UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY

BEFORE THE SECOND COMMITTEE
ON AGENDA ITEM 94:
ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

New York, October 21, 1998

Check Against Delivery

Mr. Chairman,

Let me first congratulate you to your election to this important Body. My delegation has full trust that under your able leadership we will have a most fruitful session and we pledge our support to you and the other members of the bureau. Our appreciation also extends to the respective UN agencies and departments which presented their reports today.

Furthermore, we would like to associate ourselves with the statement made by Indonesia on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. Please allow me, Mr. Chairman, to elaborate some points in a more detailed manner from my country's perspective.

Mr. Chairman,

My country attaches the highest importance to this Committee since it is dealing with some of the most crucial problems we are facing today. Living on a Small Island Developing State poses a unique set of problems that people from other parts of the world can hardly comprehend. Living in contact with nature is not just a phrase but a necessity for our people's very survival. In this regard, the Federated States of Micronesia has been very active on environmental issues in the United Nations system. We are, for example, state party to the Framework Convention on Climate Change, Biodiversity, Desertification and my government has signed the Kyoto Protocol.

It is only understandable that global climate change, and in particular, the risk of sea-level rise is of immediate concern to us. Sea-level rise puts our atolls in the risk of submerging and endangers the low lying costal areas of mountainous islands. But it is these costal areas which hold the most fertile soil and feed our population.

We see the legally binding commitments agreed to in the Kyoto Protocol as a significant first step forward on the path of ensuring effective global action to combat climate change and we encourage all countries to sign the Kyoto Protocol and to work toward its earliest possible ratification.

In noting that the Framework Convention obliges developed country parties to take the lead in combating climate change and the adverse effects thereof, we stress the importance of implementation of measures to ensure early progress toward meeting the commitments in the Kyoto Protocol and hope for further substantial progress at the upcoming Fourth Conference of Parties to the Framework Convention in Buenos Aires, in establishing the rules for international implementation mechanisms, particularly emissions trading, the Clean Development Mechanism and Joint Implementation, to ensure that these mechanisms assist the effectiveness of greenhouse gas reduction efforts.

Mr. Chairman,

An effective global response to the problems of climate change will require ongoing active cooperation and strengthened action by all countries, taking account of their common but differentiated responsibilities and their respective capabilities. There is an urgent need to initiate a process to develop procedures and future time frames for wider global participation in emissions limitation and reduction, in which significant developing country emitters would enter into commitments which reflect their individual national circumstances and development needs.

We noted with relief and gratitude the recognition in the Kyoto Protocol of the importance of the adaptation needs of small island states and hope for adequate resources to be generated through the implementation mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol and the Global Environment Facility for the full range of adaptation measures. We anticipate maximizing the benefits from such implementation measures and mechanisms, for regional climate change programs through the work of the South Pacific Regional Environmental Programme.

Mr. Chairman,

My country attaches high importance of having the United Nations adopt a Vulnerability Index with the aim of having such an index included among the criteria for determining Least Developed Country status and deciding for eligibility for concessional aid and trade treatment. Although, some steps have been taken, much work remains ahead to gain full international recognition of vulnerability in its various manifestations as obstacles to the sustainable development of Small-Island Developing States but the direction our considerations are taking is encouraging.

Vulnerability is one of the main obstacles to sustainable development of Small Island Developing States. The Barbados Plan of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small-Island Developing States offers a comprehensive framework with great potential for the whole region. The Special Session of the General Assembly in 1999 to review the Plan of Action represents an important opportunity in this respect and we hope to make the most of this chance.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.