Climate change summit in New York on September 23, 2014 |27 September 2014

Sids’ unsustainable debt levels make it difficult for them to address climate change, says President Michel

Unsustainable debt levels of Small Island Developing States (Sids) are making it difficult for these countries to address climate change, President James Michel told the climate change summit in New York this week.

More than 120 world leaders including United States President Barack Obama were present for the summit hosted by the United Nations’ secretary general Ban Ki-moon on September 23.

Mr Michel, one of the 20 Presidents selected for discussions on the way forward to the Lima and Paris climate talks, added that world leaders have heard "exhortations, complaints and pleas" for help from small island states which are on the frontline in the battle against climate change.

In his impassioned speech about addressing climate change and reducing carbon emissions across the globe, President Michel said many Sids are acting on the issue because it is crucial to their survival but also because they believe in the survival of humanity.

"We want to take the lead but we remain burdened by unsustainable debt levels. They challenge our ability to invest in building resilience against climate change. Seychelles is hoping to finalise innovative debt for adaptation swaps that allow us to create marine protected areas that build climate resilience, while receiving debt reduction,” President Michel said.

He has also called for more ownership by islands and coastal states of their Blue Economy.
Mr Michel also told the climate change summit that Sids want to strengthen their ability to build resilience, sustainability, food security and economic prosperity.

The President noted that we are all guilty and are all victims of climate change, but increasingly, Sids, themselves, are refusing to be victims.

‘Sids victims of pollution’

The President also attended a reception hosted by US President Barrack Obama and then a dinner hosted by UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon.

In an interview before the start of the summit, President Michel called small island nations like Seychelles "victims of this pollution" and said it was up to the countries that burn the most coal, oil and gas to do the most.

"If they don't do something, the Earth will not survive, and that will be the end of us all," he said.

At the end of the summit President Michel said he is optimistic and has hopes that a legally binding agreement will be adopted in Paris next year at the conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC).

“The UN climate summit has given a new momentum to the process of achieving successful climate talks that will be acceptable to all of us, small islands included, and I have much hope that we will reach an agreement in Paris next year,” said President Michel.

Mr Michel said he was also encouraged by the support Seychelles has received in various discussions on the Blue Economy concept, which Seychelles has developed and promoted in international fora, having received support from countries in Africa, Europe, the Americas and Asia.

The President also said that in his talks with EU, Commonwealth and UN partners, the concept of a Vulnerability Index for small island states was also widely welcomed.

While in New York, the President attended the opening ceremony of the general debate of the 69th General Assembly of the United Nations (Unga) on Wednesday.

He also had several meetings on the sidelines of the Unga. He met the new President of the 69th General Assembly of the UN, Sam Kahamba Kutesa, who was formerly Foreign Minister of Uganda, and they discussed climate change, sustainable development and the Blue Economy, as well as the issues affecting Sids.

The Unga President also spoke to President Michel about the issues of women’s empowerment, rights and education, which will be important topics during his mandate, and commended Seychelles on its achievements in these areas.

With Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, President Michel reviewed the progress made in the bilateral cooperation programmes between the two countries. The two Presidents had met in August in Washington on the margins of the US-Africa Summit.

President Michel also had meetings with the European Union Commissioner for Climate Action, Connie Hedegaard and spoke about the need for a legally binding agreement on climate change on the basis of expected temperature rises of no more than 2 degrees celsius and reviewed the results of the UN climate summit.

They agreed that such a binding agreement was essential in the UNFCC conference in Paris, and that the Alliance of Small Island States (Aosis) has an important role to play in ensuring that the targets on carbon emission reductions remain ambitious and without further compromise.

They also spoke about the Vulnerability Index, developed by the EU and the Commonwealth, which would help small island states to get a fairer deal within the global financing mechanisms.

The President spoke about Seychelles’ proposed debt-for-adaptation swap programme, which would enable small islands such as Seychelles to swap their debt for environmental conservation programmes, in an innovative way to fight climate change.

Australian Foreign Minister echoes President Michel

President Michel’s words were echoed by Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop who said larger industrial nations should do more.
“Australia’s emission reduction targets compare well with other countries,” said Minister Bishop who suggested that Australia is a small emitter of carbon and it is up to the larger industrial economies to act.

“In taking action at home we are recognising that Australia is responsible for about 1.5% of global emissions. All countries need to act, especially the world’s biggest emitters,” she said.

She reiterated Australia’s commitment to reducing emissions by 5% below 2000 levels by 2020.

“This is a bipartisan target. It is an ambitious target because it means that Australia will reduce its emissions by 22% against business-as-usual levels. This compares well to the targets of other major economies,” she said.

When he opened the summit, UN head Ban Ki-moon said climate change is the “defining challenge of our age” and called on the more than 120 delegates assembled to get “all hands on deck”.

As for US President, Barack Obama, he told the summit that time was fast running out to prevent the worst effects.

“We are the first generation to feel the impact of climate change and the last to be able to do anything about it,” he said.

Anote Tong, President of Kiribati – one of the countries most at risk to rising seas and other effects of climate change – called for wealthier countries to lead the way.

“We must get away from the ‘wait and see who is doing what’ style of leadership before deciding what needs to be done,” said President Tong.

Compiled by G. G.

Photos: Mervyn Marie


………………..............

Three key takeaways of the summit

This week's summit convened by UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon to encourage countries to adopt more ambitious policies to combat climate change has yielded important news going into next year's negotiations.
According to the National Geographic, the three key takeaways are:

1. A movement to fight climate change has real people power

The most surprising development of the summit didn't unfold in the halls of the UN. It happened two days before the summit, when an upstart environmental group, 350.org, organised a march through Manhattan that attracted thousands of people (official crowd estimates for such marches are notoriously unreliable). Hundreds of smaller demonstrations were staged around the globe. The turnout, especially for the New York march, was far greater than anyone, even organisers, expected.

"Our citizens keep marching," US President Barack Obama said in his Tuesday address, acknowledging the protest. "We cannot pretend we do not hear them. We have to answer the call."

Asked this week how the summit would impact ongoing negotiations, the U.S. Department of State's special envoy for climate change, Todd Stern, started talking about the impact of the march instead, calling it the biggest climate demonstration ever.

"You had 400,000 people on the streets of Manhattan," Stern told reporters at the summit's conclusion. "You have to say that that matters."

The UN's Ban marched in the demonstration, gushing about the experience in his Tuesday speech. "Two days ago I was part of a massive people's climate march in New York," Ban said. "I was overwhelmed by the energy of the tens of thousands of people."

2. More companies are recognising that halting deforestation is good PR

The biggest tangible result of the summit was a commitment by nearly 40 companies, including many big multinational corporations, to do their part to slow and eventually stop the loss of forests.

The companies include Asia Pulp and Paper, Kellogg's, Nestle, Johnson & Johnson, Walmart, and Procter & Gamble.
Forests store carbon dioxide, and deforestation is a major contributor to the concentration of heat-trapping gases in Earth's atmosphere. The companies, together with 32 countries, pledged to do their part to stop deforestation by 2030.

This was largely an aspirational goal without consequences for failing to reach it. And one key country was missing from the list: Brazil, home to the Amazon rain forest.

However, companies and countries did make some specific commitments to work toward this goal. For instance, the world's three largest palm oil companies recently pledged to source all their oil from suppliers that do not chop down forests. As part of the UN declaration, they agreed to work with the Indonesian government to develop a legal backbone to add teeth to their pledge.

"Many of these companies that are signed on are the historic biggest players in deforestation in places like Brazil and Indonesia, and for them to come before the world and say that they're going to take steps to reduce deforestation in their supply chain is pretty powerful," said Jake Schmidt of the environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council.

Though the declaration isn't binding, environmentalists said it's important because it shows industry is agreeing to address the problem. "Imagine Exxon lobbying for cap and trade," said Joel Finkelstein of Climate Advisers.
Why did the companies do it? To keep customers happy.

"Consumers have sent companies a clear signal that they do not want their purchasing habits to drive deforestation, and companies are responding," said Paul Polman, chief executive of Unilever, a consumer products company.

3. There's growing pressure to help the world's most vulnerable countries

One reason Ban convened the summit was to try to generate a competition among world leaders. He wants them to offer increasingly ambitious commitments to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and to helping poor countries adopt clean energy.

French President François Hollande was one of the first to throw down. On Tuesday, he announced that his country will pour US $1 billion into the so-called Green Climate Fund. He called on other nations to follow his example.

Five years ago, rich countries promised to assemble a big pot of money to help poor countries invest in clean energy and mitigate their risks from climate change. The idea was that rich countries created the problem of global warming by burning fossil fuels, and so are responsible for the resulting risks to poor countries.

The Green Climate Fund is just starting to get organised. Germany has offered US $1 billion, and in addition to France's pledge at this week's summit, South Korea promised to increase its contribution to US $100 million. Denmark, Norway, Mexico, Luxembourg, and Indonesia also made pledges.

The commitments are just a beginning. But they'll be seen as rich countries "making good on existing international commitments as [they] move toward negotiating the next commitment," said Peter Ogden, a former Obama administration official and director of international energy and climate policy at American Progress, a liberal think tank.

There's a lot riding on the Green Climate Fund. In fact, some observers of climate talks believe it could influence whether the international community will come to agreement around a new climate strategy in Paris next year.

Island nations that are vulnerable to sea-level rise and African nations that face drought, for example, are depending on the rich countries to live up to their promises.

If it's not well financed, "it will sour countries on a new deal," says Lou Leonard, a vice-president at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).