Space for Island Nations Conference 2023

Good morning and I am honored to be with you today.

You may not be surprised that someone with a job title as UN Resident Coordinator, can passionately speak to the value of coordination!

And we may all believe that coordination is important.

Because otherwise, as a social species, how would humanity survive and thrive without working together?

But agreeing the problem is just the beginning. We also need to agree on both the ends and means to achieve an outcome.  And the existential and complex challenges between us and sustainable development for all are very far from being understood, let alone resolved by one person, or one country, regardless of its size or resources.

In this space, coordination delivers unity of action. It requires deliberate action. It needs to be consistent and continuous. And it must be part of everything we do.

Ladies and gentlemen

Allow me to tell you a story about the Faanoozu.

As you would have seen flying in, the Maldives comprises over 182 beautiful islands, scattered across the vast Indian Ocean.

Centuries ago, well before electricity and back when fire was an important mode of communication, Maldivians extinguished their Faanoozu, (or lantern) on the night of the expected sighting of the new crescent moon, which marks the definitive beginning of the holy month of Ramadan in the Muslim world.

Imagine the gentle sound of waves lapping the beach, the swaying of palm trees, and the magnificence of a sky lit up by more stars than you have ever seen.

When the first island sighted the moon, islanders lit palm fronds and waved them on the shorelines to communicate the beginning of Ramadan to other islands. And just like that, one island after the other lit up the dark skies with a coordinated dance of fire, which brought the nation together in celebration of a shared religious event. By working together in an agreed and sequential manner, the country overcame vast distances with the assets and knowledge available to the island communities at the time, which served them for centuries.

And now fast forward to the present, we face a different kind of fire. The searing heat of the severe impact of human actions on mother nature, its oceans, its biodiversity, and the sustainability of our own future.

We are dangerously close to a world beyond our agreed limit of 1.5 degrees. The IPCC report tells us 99% of coral reefs will be lost when we pass 2 degrees Celsius, and the World Meteorological Organisation predicts that we are more likely to reach between 3 and 5 degrees before the end of the 21st Century.  At least 40 per cent of the world's population lives in cities that are imminently vulnerable to sea rise. The planet is facing its sixth mass extinction.

We have heard the warnings. We see the effects. We worry about the future.

Ladies and gentlemen

I am privileged every day to work for the United Nations and serve its 193 Member States. UN staff are made of sturdy stuff, and we are relentlessly optimistic about the potential for change. This multilateral forum has prevented and resolved civil and international conflict, regulated the use of nuclear weapons, responded to global pandemics, and concluded the Paris Agreement limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees.

Island nations, comprising one quarter of the 193 Member States, are showing that international institutions remain both relevant and necessary to address the toughest challenges of our generation. So much of what island nations have achieved is the result of working together, and mobilizing moral force, rather than traditional hard power in order to upend the climate debate and save complex global climate negotiations from failure. And they have inspired billions of dollars in financial commitments from wealthier countries to the developing world for climate change mitigation and adaptation.

So, we must not be disheartened. Because island nations are at both the moral centre of the fight against climate change, as well as speaking from direct experience on the real time impact it wreaks. And with both power and agency comes a compelling and undeniable force for island nations to mobilise a collective force for global action. While island nations will be impacted first, all countries now understand that they will also face severe consequences for slow action, or inaction, at some point. And therein my friends, lies a great motivation for coordination, and multilateralism.

No one nation can solve a problem as complex as climate change alone, but together bands of nations can make a difference. And that lesson applies to a host of global challenges, from emerging diseases to international terrorism and the spread of nuclear weapons. Rather than building walls to keep others out, now we protect ourselves when we safeguard our neighbors, through “mutual resilience”, and achieving strategic global solutions well into the future.

Science and technology have been at the heart of the UN for decades.

In 2021, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution outlining the Space2030 Agenda, which emphasizes space tools that can help us achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 and the commitments to the Paris Agreement. The fulfilment of these global agendas requires improved access to space-based data and applications and space infrastructure, taking into account the particular needs of developing countries such as island nations.

The “Space2030” Agenda contains four overarching objectives:

1. Enhance space-derived economic benefits and strengthen the role of the space sector as a major driver of sustainable development (Space economy pillar).
2. Harness the potential of space to solve everyday challenges and leverage space-related innovation to improve the quality of life (Space society pillar)
3. Improve access to space for all and ensure that all countries can benefit socioeconomically from space science and technology applications and space-based data, information and products, thereby supporting the achievement of the SDGs (Space Accessibility pillar)
4. Build partnerships and strengthen international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space and in the global governance of outer space activities (Space Diplomacy pillar).

To succeed, all these objectives demand we work together and share our collective assets.

And right now, as we speak, a special session of experts is happening in NY on emerging science, frontier technologies, future scenarios and the SDGs.  

Our world is so intricately interconnected in ways that we could never have imagined back in the days where we lit our paths with the Faanoozu.

The transformative potential of frontier technologies is so significant that the UN is calling for public and private sector actors to join forces to build a digital ecosystem for the planet. Technology and coordination are both key components of SDG17, and as a means of implementation for delivering on all of the 17 Global SDGs. 

As you may imagine, in the Maldives, we are particularly attached to SDG14, the Ocean Goal, that sets out to conserve and sustainably use the Ocean's resources.

Oceans cover more than two-thirds of the earth’s surface and contain 97% of the planet’s water. Oceans contribute to poverty eradication by creating sustainable livelihoods and decent work. Over three billion people depend on marine and coastal resources for their livelihoods. Oceans are crucial for global food security and human health, are the primary regulator of the global climate, and provide us with water and the oxygen we breathe. Finally, oceans host huge reservoirs of biodiversity. And Oceans connect us.

And yet, 90% of the global ocean remains unmapped and unobserved.

And the simple truth is, that we can’t manage what we can’t see. In the data void, it is too easy to disregard the law, destroy the environment — and get away with it. Ocean managers, government authorities and conservationists are operating in the dark.

This is why the Ocean Decade (2021-2030) will strengthen international cooperation to develop the scientific research and innovative technologies that can connect ocean science with the needs of humanity. While many countries benefit from sophisticated, cutting-edge scientific infrastructure, technology and human capacity for science and innovation, the 2017 Global Ocean Science Report concluded that major capacity gaps exist around the world to undertake marine scientific research. A core objective of the Ocean Decade is to improve the scientific knowledge base through capacity development in regions and groups that are presently limited in capacity and capability, including Island Nations.

The explosion in big data and satellite coverage offers the opportunity to monitor the ocean better and transform the way it’s managed. For example, Global Fishing Watch aims to increase the percentage of industrial fishing monitored from 20% to 100% within 5 years. Processing millions of gigabytes of satellite data and making it available on a free data platform, will be a public good, giving a dynamic, transparent understanding of what is happening out on the vast Oceans in real time.  For a country like the Maldives which is so dependent on its tuna catch and processing, coordinating this data is central to the economic development and prosperity of the country. And because Maldives shares the Indian Ocean with other island nations such as Mauritius, Seychelles, sharing this knowledge is a win-win for all.

From increasing the accuracy of our weather predictions, to documenting environmental change and provide the scientific data needed for effective decision-making, the progress being made in the technology space will rapidly change our lives for the better. Right now, there are more than 160 satellites measuring various global warming indicators. More than half of these indicators are currently only measurable from space. Adaptation strategies and science-informed policy responses to global change are urgently needed.

And the reality is that not every country can afford to launch satellites and cover their own sovereign territory. Perversely, it is the countries that need this information the most who are least able to afford it, such as island nations with a limited economic base. For example, being able in real time to predict with precise accuracy extreme weather events in sufficient time to reduce crop losses, reduce the loss of human and animal life, and enable people to move to higher ground.

According to the Global Commission on Adaptation, giving just 24 hours' notice of an impending hazardous event can reduce damage by 30 percent. Investing just US$800 million in such systems in developing countries would prevent losses of $3 to $16 billion annually. 

This is why UN Secretary-General Guterres launched the Early Warning for All Initiative in 2022. Its goal is simple – to ensure that every single one of the 8 billion people on the planet is protected from dangerous weather through life saving early warning systems by the end of 2027.

Its delivery is the tough part.

Maldives is one of the first 30 countries to pilot the initiative, because island nations and developing countries still have major gaps. It includes mapping existing assets, identifying gaps in coverage, and launching a plan for action. It needs to input, ideas, and assets of the entire country. It is essential.

And it needs to happen now.

It all comes down to coordination both within, between, and beyond our Island Nations.

And much as our days of the treasured Faanoozu of centuries ago, I am certain that we have in our hands the 21st century versions of our palm frond fires to communicate and coordinate with our neighbors and friends in order to tackle the particular challenges that face us in our global and interconnected world.

It is our constant technological evolution, and the sharing of these assets that has the greatest potential for our sustainable future.

Thank you.