UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- Prime Minister of Samoa Tuilaepa Malielegaoi on Friday called for urgent action to tackle climate change, saying it poses the single greatest threat especially to small island states like his.
"Put simply, climate change poses the single greatest threat especially to small island developing states like Samoa, not through our doing or choice, and that the need to take effective action to mitigate against climate change impacts is urgent and real," he told the UN General Assembly.
Climate change is a societal problem requiring a decisive global response, said Malielegaoi. "Its global reach and impact should unite and strengthen our resolve, not weaken and divide us."
United, the international community can do a great deal to arrest and even reverse the threat of climate change, he said.
"Its impacts are worsening by the day. No one country, or single group of nations, and no single organization can solely win the war against climate change. The divergent, yet inextricably linked interests of member states demands that we work together," the prime minister said.
Climate change is one of the most pressing security challenges for island countries, affecting food security, access to safe water, fundamentally affecting their ability to draw sustenance from the pristine ocean and seas that surround those countries, he said.
The Paris Agreement on climate change is a beacon of hope especially for the vulnerable island states, said the prime minister.
It is based on shared responsibilities, trust, collaboration and principled action. It demonstrates a new brand of cooperation and broad outlook, where the narrow pursuits of self-interests, the use of economic and political expediencies were to be set aside.
Climate change is the highest priority challenge facing countries of the world and does not discriminate between rich and poor, he said.
It is worrisome and alarming that the level of commitments to the Paris Agreement by member states will not keep global warming anywhere below 1.5 degrees Celsius, he said. "Without that, the continuing existence of some low-lying islands in our Pacific region and elsewhere will be in grave doubt."
He asked world leaders to work together with a sense of urgency and commitment to address climate change -- today and now.
"Clearly, we want leaders who view the world as a single constituency where all must work together within the limits of their capacity and capability to be part of the total solution," he added.
The United Nations remains the last best hope to provide the political will and the necessary commitment to turn the tide against climate change, he said. "As custodians of our world's environment, we owe it to our future generations to do what needs to be done quickly, and decisively."
The Pacific region is already facing the destructive impacts of climate change and disasters: cyclones, floods, droughts. Sea level rise and ocean acidification are taking their toll on the health and well-being of the peoples, environment and economies, he said.
"When the future existence of sovereign island nations, populations and cultures are at stake, then there is a moral imperative for the world to act decisively and collectively."
