UN Secretary General Remarks at the One UN House in Samoa.

Talofa,

I thank the government and people of Samoa for their warm welcome and exceptional hospitality. 

It is a privilege to visit this beautiful island. To experience its rich culture. And to witness both its immense resilience and its extreme vulnerability.

Samoa is a firm friend of the United Nations and an active supporter of multilateralism.  

I applaud your fierce advocacy for climate justice in international climate negotiations, and your commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals.

Yet, like many Pacific countries, Samoa is caught in a storm of rising prices, rising seas, and rising geopolitical tensions – compounded by an ailing ocean and woefully insufficient finance.

 The average rate of sea level rise has more than doubled since the 1990s.

Today's rate of increase is unprecedented in at least 3,000 years and likely, since the dawn of civilization, 12 000 years ago. During my visit, I spent time with communities threatened by the rising ocean. High and rising sea level pose an enormous threat to Samoa, the Pacific, and other Small Island Developing States. 

These challenges demand resolute international action.

The climate crisis is the gravest threat facing this country and this region – and, quite possibly, the world.

This region, the Pacific, contributes 0.02 per cent of global emissions.

Yet you are on the front lines of the climate crisis, dealing with extreme weather events from raging tropical cyclones to record ocean heatwaves.

Sea levels are rising even faster than the global average, posing an existential threat to millions of Pacific islanders.  

People are suffering. Economies are being battered.

And entire territories face annihilation.

The injustice is appalling.

But Pacific islands are not only climate victims. They are leaders.

And Samoa has built extraordinary resilience through Fa'asamoa.

Many countries in this region are at the fore of ambition and action.

And the world must match them.

The fate of the Pacific depends on limiting the rise in global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius. 

We need the G20 – the biggest emitters – out in front:

Phasing out fossil fuels – fairly.

And ending fossil fuel expansion – immediately.

All countries must produce new national climate action plans – or Nationally Determined Contributions – by next year, aligned with the 1.5-degree limit on global temperature increase.

And we need climate justice – starting with major contributions to the new Loss and Damage fund, and ensuring that every person is protected by lifesaving early warning systems by [2027].  

We also need a massive increase in finance.

In Samoa, and around the world, lack of funds has put ambitious plans for climate action and sustainable development on hold.

We need to simplify access to concessional finance and massively increase the sums available.

We need to reform the Multilateral Development Banks, to massively increase their lending capacity and enable them to leverage far more private finance for development at affordable rates.

We need action on debt – which is soaking up funds in many developing countries.

We have just approved the multi-dimensional vulnerability index. Until no,w a country like Samoa that has huge challenges because it's a middle-income country would not be able to receive any form of concessional funding or any form of debt relief.

And so we ask the international community to act in a way that when international financial institutions deal with countries like Samoa, the multi-dimensional vulnerability index is taking into account to allow for concessional funding to be granted for the projects that are necessary for this country to achieve the sustainable development goals and protect its populations against climate change.

And we need all countries to honour their promises on climate finance, and a strong finance outcome from this year’s COP where we will discuss the financial commitments after 2025. 

We also need international action for the ocean.

The beating heart of Pacific cultures and economies is being exploited, polluted, and degraded.

Climate change, plastic, overfishing and waste are taking a terrible toll.

Pacific nations lead the world in ocean stewardship.

And globally, countries have now agreed on a better course.

I urge all countries to ratify the recent international Agreement on Marine Biodiversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction – to give the ocean, and ocean people, a fighting chance.

Dear friends of the media,

Climate chaos brings its own security challenges. Meanwhile, international tensions are rising and interest in this region from major powers is mounting.

The Pacific is best managed by Pacific islanders. It must never become a forum for geostrategic competition.

I urge all countries to seize the chance presented at the Summit of the Future next month to revitalize multilateral institutions and re-boot multilateral solutions.

We must equip our international system to meet today’s challenges.

And we must push for greater representation – including of Pacific countries, especially in multilateral financial institutions.

On all these issues – together – the United Nations stands with the Pacific in calling for justice and change.

For global action to support the Blue Continent and the future of its people and take in particular consideration the need to massively increase the funding for adaptation of countries that are already suffering the dramatic impacts of climate change.  

This is the message I will carry with me to the Pacific Island Forum in Tonga and to the Summit of the Future and the General Assembly in New York.

Thank you.