President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has presented the Maldivian ‘Climate Smart Resilient Islands Initiative’ as a replicate solution to combat climate change in all countries.
President Solih presented the model at the Climate Action Summit held Monday in New York, an event that is part of the ongoing 74th Annual Session of the United Nations General Assembly while delivering his speech.
President Solih stated that climate change is a huge concern we face in the 21st century, and emphasized the importance of finding a solution to address the issue. Noting that small island nations continue to stress the implications of climate change on different forums, President Solih urged all the countries to work as together in finding a solution for climate change.
Highlighting Maldives' efforts to combat climate change, President Solih stated the Maldives’ model, ‘Climate Smart Resilient Islands Initiative’, encompasses a holistic set of pragmatic and feasible measures for the resilience of SIDS to the adverse impacts of climate change. The pledges are realistic and achievable, and prioritize building a sustainable society in harmony with our fragile ecosystem, said the President. He further urged SIDS to use the model used by the Maldives.
“I call upon other SIDS to replicate our model to achieve a post-carbon economy and climate-smart development pathway that will, in turn, safeguard our people from climate associated risks in the futur,” said President Solih.
President Solih stated that the Climate Smart Resilient Islands Initiative focuses on achieving environment-related targets in eleven key areas, including the designation of environmentally protected areas; installation of new technology, establishing inter-island connectivity, safeguarding food and water security, promoting green tourism, ensuring climate-resilient infrastructure development.
President Solih said sufficient funding is vital to achieving these pledges. While the goal in 2010 was for the developing SIDS to have a fixed budget of US$ 100 million by the year 2020, it is unlikely that this goal an be achieved, with only a few months remaining until 2020.
The President prefaced and ended his remarks by reiterating to the International Community the urgency and severity of the threat posed by climate change, appealing to them to do their due diligence to save our planet.
This is the first time in the last seven years that a President of the Maldives has addressed at the UN General Assembly.
President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih at the Climate Summit. ---
