Venkat Raman
Auckland, September 25, 2021
Addressing the UN General Assembly she also reminds of other challenges
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern addressing the UN General Assembly through a video link
from Wellington on September 25, 2021 (MFAT Picture)
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has called on the leaders of countries to find a common solution to the raging Covid-19 community, since the pandemic cannot be approached in isolation.
She also called for equitable access to safe and effective vaccines for everyone everywhere in the world to make any solution effective and successful.
Speaking to the UN General Assembly through a video link from Wellington today (September 25, 2021), she said that New Zealand is working with other countries, especially Australia, to support full Vaccine coverage for Pacific Island countries.
“No community, nation, or region acting alone can address Covid-19. It is a complex, global problem that requires a global solution. The COVAX Facility is doing essential work distributing vaccines worldwide. But more must be done to support this effort,” she said.
Ms Ardern said that New Zealand is proud to have been amongst the first countries to donate doses to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment in addition to financial support.
Intellectual Property waiver
Stating that New Zealand continues to work with the Word Trade Organisation and Association of WTO and Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries to support a waiver of intellectual property protections for vaccines and other measures to increase availability, she said that without equitable access, the world is at risk of further variants of Covid-19 undermining human progress.
The direct impacts of Covid-19 have brought immeasurable pain to many across the world, exacerbating and complicating other existing global challenges, she said.
“We know these challenges and articulated them as areas of action in the UN Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Declaration,” she said.
The UN Report on Climate Change
UN Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Declaration
The Declaration, signed by the Heads of State and Prime Ministers of member countries, at the Annual UN General Assembly held on September 21, 2020, said that the challenges are interconnected and can only be addressed through reinvigorated multilateralism.
“Covid-19 has not only caused death and serious illness but also global economic recession, increased poverty, anxiety, and fear. It has put enormous pressure on our societies, economies,. and health systems. While none of us has been left untouched, people in vulnerable situations and the most vulnerable countries have been the hardest hit. The Covid-19 pandemic has reminded us in the most powerful way that we are closely interconnected and only as strong as our weakest link. Only by working together and in solidarity can we end the pandemic and effectively tackle its consequences,” it said.
SDG and Climate Change
The Declaration also mentioned Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the 2030 Agenda, which Ms Ardern addressed in her speech.
“The 2030 Agenda recognises that as our shared challenges are interconnected, so too must be our responses. As we face a series of interlinked global crises that demand action, now is the time for us to recommit to the SDGs. Covid-19 cannot be an excuse for not achieving the SDGs. In fact, it’s a further reason why we must. There is perhaps no better example of a global crisis that demands action than climate change,” she said.
The Doomsday Clock (CCO Public Domain)
Describing Climate Change as one of the most pervasive crises of our time, Ms Ardern said that from rising sea levels to shifting weather patterns, the impacts are global in scope, unprecedented in scale, and happening right now.
“Climate change touches all of our lives, but countries in the Pacific are some of the most affected, despite having contributed least to the problem. Pacific leaders view climate change as the single greatest threat to the livelihoods, security and wellbeing of the peoples of the region. Any global response that fails to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels is unacceptable. This is our goal, and our collective efforts must achieve it. The latest science from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is stark,” she said.
Ms Ardern said that the climate crisis cannot be beaten through incrementalism and that the Science demands that we do so much more.
Legislation in New Zealand
“New Zealand has made the 1.5 degree limit the heart of our domestic climate change legislation. We have committed to a 2050 target and we are revising our Nationally Determined Contribution. As we mitigate, we must also adapt. This year, New Zealand conducted its first national climate change risk assessment to tell us where to focus our effort, and within two years we will have a national adaptation plan. But we have already begun our journey,” she said.
New Zealand has a programme to plant for instance, one billion trees by 2028. This will store carbon, but it will also support forest resilience, prevent erosion, improve biodiversity, and support our rural and indigenous communities.
“Lifting the ambition of our nationally determined contributions is vital, but there are also collective actions we need to take. This includes bringing an end to fossil fuel and other environmentally harmful subsidies. It includes pooling our resources and knowledge through the Global Research Alliance so that we can grow more food without growing emissions. It includes negotiating an agreement on climate change, trade and sustainability. New Zealand is actively pursuing all of these outcomes. We must collectively address the unjust and potentially destabilising consequences of climate change,” Ms Ardern said.
Her speech also covered the acute problems of poverty and hunger, Food Systems Summit, uninterrupted global trade and the Afghan situation.
“If there is any lesson we can draw from the events of the past 18 months, it is the need for more, and better, cooperation. And with the need for better cooperation, comes the need for responsive and adaptive global institutions, including the United Nations,” Ms Ardern said.
