Concerning Climate Change: President
Nasheed is Going to Lead by Example
Jump First and Jump Far on Climate
Change
Image Above
Mohamed Nasheed,
President of the Republic of Maldives, addresses the opening
plenary session of the UN Summit on Climate Change on
September 22, 2009.
Convened by Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon, the Summit aims at mobilizing the highest level
political will needed to reach a fair, effective, and
scientifically ambitious global climate deal at the United
Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this
December.
And here follows the full text transcript of
Mohamed Nasheed's Address at the United Nations
Summit on Climate Change, delivered at New York, N.Y. —
September 22, 2009.
I am sorry to say
that the Maldives has developed something of a
habit.
Once or twice a
year we are invited to attend an important
climate change event such as this one - often as
a keynote speaker. The subject matter we are
asked to cover is usually something along the
lines of: "what are the challenges and threats
that climate change poses to the Maldives and
other Small Island States"?
On cue, we stand
here and tell you just how bad things are. We
warn you that unless you act quickly and
decisively, our homeland and others like it will
disappear beneath the rising sea before the end
of this century. We ask you what will become of
us?
In response, the
assembled leaders of the world stand up,
one-by-one, and rail against the injustice of it
all. "We are with you!" they say. "We must act
now before it is too late!"
But then, once the
rhetoric has settled and the delegates have
drifted away, the sympathy fades, the
indignation cools, and the world carries on as
before.
A few months
later, we come back and repeat the charade.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Like all habits,
this particular one is hard to break.
We in the Maldives
desperately want to believe that one day our
words will have an effect, and so we continue to
shout them even though, deep down, we know that
you are not really listening.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I do not wish to
sound down-hearted, but it is important to be
frank and honest.
As we all know,
the first step in breaking a habit is to accept
that there is a problem. And I think it is clear
that there is a problem. For the past
twenty years we have stood here warning you of
the threat of climate change. But we have
not told you what the solution is, we have not
clearly explained that it is in your interest -
not just ours - to pursue that solution, and we
have not been willing to prove that such a
solution is achievable and mutually beneficial
by pursuing it ourselves - by leading by
example.
Today therefore,
the Maldives will break its old habit. We will
continue to play our allotted role as the
world's conscience on global warming: the
"canary in the coal mine" as some have called
us. But we will ally that role with an equally
determined effort to point the way out of the
mime, to explain why it is in all of our
interests to reach the surface, and to walk with
you towards the light.
First then, what
is the solution to the current political
deadlock on climate change?
As all of us know,
but perhaps unwilling to say, it is really very
simple:
1. Developed
nations must acknowledge their historic
responsibility for global warming and they
must accept ambitious and binding emission
reduction targets consistent with an average
temperature increase of below 1.5 degrees
Celsius compared to the pre-industrial
levels.
2. If
developed countries do act decisively, we in
the developing world must be ready to jump,
by accepting binding emission reduction
targets under the principle of common but
differentiated responsibility - providing
that the rich world gives us the tools to do
so, namely the technology and finance to
help us reform our economic base and pursue
carbon-neutral development.
3. While
priority must be given to mitigation, the
developed world must also provide new,
additional and predictable adaptation
financing.
Ladies and
gentlemen,
If it is so
simple, then why are we not doing it? In my
opinion, there are three principal reasons.
First, governments
still believe that tackling climate change must
necessarily incur an economic cost or a relative
disadvantage.
In fact, the
opposite is true. Oil is running out and will
become increasingly expensive, while clean
technologies and renewable energy are becoming
ever more efficient and affordable. States which
accept this reality and embrace the Green New
Deal will be the winners of the 21st Century.
The second reason
why the world is failing to pursue the political
solution I outlined a few moments ago is, of
course, because of a lack of trust between
countries, especially between developed and
developing States. Typical points of
disagreement are: Who should jump first? How far
does the other side have to jump before we make
our move? If we express a willingness to jump,
will it weaken our negotiating position?
These concerns are
of course quite normal and are part-and-parcel
of international diplomacy. However, I would
argue that the threat posed by climate change is
now so acute, the science so clear, the solution
so apparent, and the cost-benefit analysis of
action and inaction so alarming, that such
horse-trading and brinkmanship must be left in
the past.
Thirdly, the Kyoto
Protocol is primarily about what countries
cannot do, rather than what they can do. I
believe a positive agenda focusing on what we
can do might provide a better alternative.
Yesterday at the AOSIS Summit we agreed to
recognize the need to supplement the UNFCCC
process by calling on the major emitters to
agree to produce enough clean energy to attain
the targets of limiting temperature rise to 1.5
degree Celsius and 350 ppm of carbon
concentrations.
It is now in
all of our national interests to jump first
and jump far.
That is why the
Maldives, without waiting for the outcome of the
Copenhagen Summit, recently announced its
intention to become carbon neutral by 2020, and
why we are actively formulating a national
strategy to put that commitment onto practice.
Ladies and gentlemen,
As I hope I have
made clear, the Maldives is determined to break
old habits. From now on, we will no longer be
content to shout about the perils of climate
change. Instead, we believe our acute
vulnerability provides us with the clarity of
vision to understand how the problem can be
solved; the objectivity to say that it is in all
of our interests to aggressively pursue that
solution; and the courage and determination to
lead by example by walking the path ourselves.
In return, we ask
assembled world leaders to discard those habits
that have led to twenty years of complacency and
broken promises on climate change, and instead
to seize the historic opportunity that sits at
the end of the road to Copenhagen.
