Ministry Statements & Speeches:
Thank you, Mr. President.
Aotearoa New Zealand thanks Malta for calling this important Open Debate on sea level rise and its implications for international peace and security. New Zealand aligns itself with the PIF Statement and the statement of the Group of Friends on Climate and Security.
Scientists globally agree that climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, and that those impacts will continue to worsen in future. In my own country, New Zealand, just yesterday we declared a state of national emergency in response to Cyclone Gabrielle, so severe is the widespread damage caused by this unprecedented weather event. This is only the third time in our history that a state of national emergency has been declared.
Climate change is a threat multiplier. It amplifies and adds complexity to existing security threats. As the effects of climate change continue to accelerate, the associated impacts will fundamentally affect global security.
Climate change remains the single greatest existential threat facing the Blue Pacific. Pacific Islands Forum Leaders have declared that the Pacific is facing a climate emergency that threatens the livelihoods, security, and the well-being of its people and ecosystems, backed by the latest science and the daily lived realities in Pacific communities.
One of the most significant impacts of climate change in the Pacific will be sea-level rise. Some Pacific Island countries experience up to four times greater sea level rise than the global average.
While the severity and impacts of sea-level rise will vary between states and regions, it is a phenomenon that will have implications for all states, and which will pose specific peace and security threats to the international community as a whole.
Sea level rise is already impacting vulnerable communities and degrading the habitability of low-lying nations, and has the potential to inundate low-lying territorial features. This would cause immeasurable economic, social, cultural, and environmental harm.
It is therefore critical that the international community cooperates to develop responses to these issues.
The impacts of rising sea levels also raise important legal questions relevant to international peace and security.
Maritime zones, and the resource rights that come with them, are essential to countries’ economies, identities, and ways of life, especially for small island developing states.
We stand behind the 2021 Declaration on Preserving Maritime Zones in the Face of Climate Change-Related Sea-Level Rise. Issued by Pacific Island Forum Leaders, and firmly grounded in the primacy of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, it sets out our region’s collective position on how UNCLOS applies in the situation of climate-change-related sea-level rise to promote legal stability and certainty over maritime zones.
New Zealand is appreciative of the level of international support that the Declaration has received. We look forward to ongoing engagement with the international community to ensure that the maritime rights and entitlements that many states rely on are preserved, consistent with the principles of equity, certainty and stability that underpin the Convention.
Pacific Leaders have also recognised the importance of considering the preservation of statehood and the protection of persons affected by sea-level rise. Pacific Islands Forum members, including Aotearoa New Zealand, are examining these issues, and are being guided and informed by applicable principles and norms of international law and relevant international frameworks and standards.
Finally, allow me to comment on Vanuatu’s initiative for an ICJ advisory opinion on climate. New Zealand is a member of the Core Group supporting this initiative because of our active interest in having clarity on the international legal implications of climate change.
I want to affirm that Aotearoa New Zealand is committed to supporting countries to take urgent action on sea level rise to build a safer, more prosperous and more sustainable future.
Thank you.