Pres. Muizzu calls for urgent global action on sea level rise, climate change

President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has called for urgent global action on sea level rise and climate change.

He made this appeal while delivering a statement at the High-Level Meeting on Sea Level Rise at the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 79), as part of his ongoing visit to the states.

Noting that sea level rise is a common concern for humankind that would cause extensive damage to land and infrastructure, Muizzu shed light on the urgent need for action against sea-level rise, the availability of resources and technology, as well as continuous dialogue on the issue of sea level rise.

Further, he stressed that climate change and the resulting rise in sea levels, demands urgent, consistent, and coordinated global action that boost the adaptive capacity of coastal communities and low-lying island nations that are most susceptible.

During his speech, the Maldivian leader shed light on three actions that could be taken including urgently increasing the provision of and access to adaptation finance.

Muizzu went on to note that the 2030 Agenda and the target specified in the Paris Agreement cannot be achieved without supporting specific adaptation needs.

Stating that political will and a coherent approach is needed, Muizzu said that incorporating the promise enshrined in the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS into the international development, and climate financing framework is a significant first step.

Secondly, the Maldivian leader called to operationalize the Loss and Damage Fund. He highlighted that extreme weather events have caused losses worth USD 153 billion in SIDS, over the course of the past five decades. Muizzu said that the pledges to the Loss and Damage Fund which stood at USD 661 million remained woefully inadequate compared to these numbers.

Muizzu urged partners to continue supporting the most vulnerable and highlighted that effective deployment of the Loss and Damage Fund is crucial for countries like the Maldives which are battling storm surges, tidal swells and many other climate-induced disasters that are eradicating decades of development advances in mere minutes.

Thirdly, the Maldivian president called to transfer technology.

Expressing his belief that the private sector can be significant to boost technological capacity, the president said that efforts will not be efficient or effective without access to technology and capacity to deploy such technology.

Highlighting that the Maldives is utilizing its own finite resources in building capacity and responding to climate change, the Maldivian president said that these resources amounted to tens of millions of dollars in the past year alone.

This, he stressed, is money that could have gone to building schools, hospitals, housing, or training teachers and doctors to offer social protection.

However, Muizzu stressed that the Maldives continues to push through, because will to survive is embedded in the island nation’s history and within Maldivians.

He said that the Maldivian people’s determination to thrive, their call for action and their fight for survival, will endure.