YouSaid · the spoken record

Moses

lines on the record: 15
first: 2015-07-30
most recent: 2019-01-25
sittings or episodes: 2
sources: un-security-council

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“The special representative would also be well placed to coordinate the efforts of the relevant United Nations bodies in this area, including the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. We need the courage to grapple with the reality of our present situation, no matter how politically inconvenient it may be. Climate change will be the biggest security challenge of the century. This is not just about containing a handful ofhot spots; it will often require a fundamental rethink of how we cooperate in our highly integrated and increasingly dangerous world.”
2019-01-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8451 (2019) · source
“I should note that that is not a new proposal; the small island developing States of the Pacific first raised it in 2011. Such a special representative of the Secretary-General would serve the following functions: keep the Secretary-General and Security Council well informed about emerging climate risks that threaten international peace and security; facilitate greater regional and cross-border cooperation on issues that might be affected by climate change; monitor potential tipping points at the climate-security nexus; engage in preventive diplomacy, as appropriate; and support post-conflict situations when climate change is a risk factor that could undermine stability.”
2019-01-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8451 (2019) · source
“Many variables contributed to the food crisis, but they included climatic factors in key food producing regions of the world. Scientists are projecting agricultural yields to fall dramatically in a warmer world, and therefore it is only a matter of time before the next food crisis hits. The food system is not alone in its vulnerability to climate change. Water distribution, international transport, industrial production, finance and insurance markets are complex human systems that are inter-connected, global in reach and often quite fragile. A breakdown in any one of those human systems might be more dangerous than the climate impact that provokes it. In our view, the appointment of a special representative on climate and security is a critical next step to prepare for the security implications of climate change.”
2019-01-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8451 (2019) · source
“For better or for worse, our fates are now linked through a global system that often leaves the poorest in a very precarious situation. Our national response matters, but a problem of this magnitude requires much greater regional and international cooperation than what exists today. It also requires the United Nations to work more effectively across institutions with related mandates I would like to focus for a moment on food production and distribution, because we have some recent experiences to draw upon. The food crisis in 2007 and 2008 provoked social unrest in countries around the world and prompted some to declare states of emergency. Our global supply chains are often celebrated as a marvel of modern capitalism. However, during the food crisis they were unable to get food to the people who needed it at a price they could afford.”
2019-01-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8451 (2019) · source
“Notwithstanding the Paris Agreement, climate change is not going away. There will be no return to a normal climate in our lifetimes. In fact, the situation will continue to deteriorate, even if we achieve our goal to limit temperature rise to 15Â°C. From the perspective of our leaders, the institutions needed to respond to the security implications of climate change are not in place, in part because we know very little about how our human systems will respond to growing climate impacts. For our purposes here at the United Nations, we must recognize that this type of problem cannot be tackled by countries individually. Through the Boe Declaration the Pacific is committed to working together on coordinated actions that build resilience to the security risks posed by climate change.”
2019-01-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8451 (2019) · source
“The Pacific region knows that it is stronger when it works together, and it has shown collective leadership to address the impact of climate change-related disasters. The Declaration reaffirms that climate change remains the single-greatest threat to the livelihoods, security and well-being of the peoples of the Pacific. It also recognizes an expanded concept of security - that climate change poses multifaceted challenges to human security, humanitarian assistance and environment security. We are already seeing dangerous impacts in our countries and communities, with the most vulnerable among us bearing the greatest burden. According to scientists, climate change has contributed to many of the recent extreme weather events that have devastated communities around the world.”
2019-01-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8451 (2019) · source
“I have the honour to speak on behalf of the Pacific Islands Forum member States represented at the United Nations. I would like to begin by thanking and congratulating the Dominican Republic, a fellow small island developing State, on demonstrating such commendable leadership by placing the issue of climate change squarely on the Security Council agenda. Few countries wanted to discuss the security implications of climate change one decade ago, but it is now impossible to ignore that this once manageable challenge has become a world-changing crisis. The Pacific Islands Forum leaders met in Nauru in 2018 under the theme, "Building a Strong Pacific: Our People, Our Islands, Our Will", and adopted the Boe Declaration on Regional Security in September.”
2019-01-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8451 (2019) · source
“Global environmental governance, economic governance and security governance: those three inter-related systems and how they are reformed will have an enormous influence on whether SIDS are able to thrive or languish. Therefore, when we examine the numerous threats facing SIDS, we should not ignore the wider global context in which we are forced to operate.”
2015-07-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7499 (2015) · source
“Environmental impacts continue to grow much faster than our capacity to deal with them, while a large percentage of the world's population remains excluded from the global economy. That inevitably leads to greater human suffering, instability and, in the worst cases, violent conflict. The number of people displaced every year seems to move in only one direction, up. Yet global security governance has failed to respond adequately. In fact, the response often seems to exacerbate the situation. Meanwhile, vulnerable countries have been left to shoulder the growing security burden with minimal assistance. On every continent, the rich and the powerful contain the problems in ever higher barbed-wire fences.”
2015-07-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7499 (2015) · source
“SIDS are constantly being told that we must make our islands more attractive to private investors, but there is scant evidence that the investors are interested in improving our schools or our hospitals or our basic infrastructure - all necessary for sustainable development. We have attempted to meet the stringent requirements set for good governance, but then we see good governance getting undermined by the same forces when precious resources are at stake. Official development assistance is available sometimes, but too often it comes with strings attached. We have seen countless times how such leverage can be wielded to dictate policy and undermine sovereignty.”
2015-07-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7499 (2015) · source
“It is hard to believe that we have not learned the lessons from the last financial crisis, which saw similar levels of reckless speculation based on fraudulent projections. The richest and most powerful countries write the rules that the rest of us must follow. The decisions they make in the lofty political forums dealing with international trade, finance and military cooperation have far-reaching implications for our development prospects. They hold the keys. They can open the doors for us or they can close them. What we have seen is that private profit is privileged over public good; the wealthy are privileged over the weakest among us.”
2015-07-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7499 (2015) · source
“The very foundation of our small island economies is being quickly dismantled. The international community knows the steps required to address such environmental crises, but we fail to take them. Often they are opposed by very powerful economic interests or our urgency is not shared by the larger countries. That brings us to the failures in global economic governance. Countries have failed to rein in a predatory financial industry that privileges rampant speculation over sound investments. The most vivid example of the industry's shortsightedness would have to be its continued funding of new fossil fuel exploration and development despite the fact that over two-thirds of the known reserves must stay in the ground if we are to preserve anything resembling a safe climate.”
2015-07-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7499 (2015) · source
“Taking them in turn, the breakdown in global environmental governance is most apparent in our collective failure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions despite more than two decades of trying. Climate change represents the single biggest threat to many SIDS. Adaptation measures demand an ever-growing percentage of our domestic budgets. Climate change threatens to put an end to our sustainable development and, in some cases, to our physical existence. We see a comparably grave crisis brewing in our oceans. Destructive fishing practices and overfishing are depleting stocks at an alarming rate, while pollution, acidification and coral bleaching are devastating our reef systems. Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in our waters amounts to nothing less than piracy, a topic that the Security Council has addressed before.”
2015-07-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7499 (2015) · source
“Some are due to the immutable characteristics of SIDS. We are small, we are isolated, and we are vulnerable. Those things will never change. However, we also exist in the context of a global economic and security system that is very much manmade and is every bit as responsible for the current situations in which we find ourselves. And that system can be changed, if we want it to be. Therefore, before going through a laundry list of issues, it is important that we consider all of the challenges facing SIDS in the context of three overarching issues: global environmental governance, global economic governance and global security governance. Deficiencies in those areas are at the root of the security challenges faced not only by SIDS but by many other vulnerable developing countries around the world.”
2015-07-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7499 (2015) · source
“Let me begin by thanking you, Mr. President, for convening this debate. Allow me to also acknowledge the presence of Their Excellencies the Heads of State and Government and ministers from the small island developing States (SIDS). My delegation aligns its statement with those delivered by Maldives on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States and by Tonga on behalf of the Pacific States. It is much appreciated that the Security Council is considering the root causes of conflict and not just situations in which conflict has already broken out. A holistic approach can be very useful for understanding the larger context of any given challenge. And SIDS undoubtedly face a unique and particular set of challenges - challenges to our development, to our security and even to our territorial integrity.”
2015-07-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7499 (2015) · source