Seychelles fights on as others join war against climate change
12.12.2009
The world’s main focus right now is the summit being held in Copenhagen where experts and politicians are calling for urgent action against climate change.
But well before many countries were conscious of or alarmed by the climate change threat, Seychelles was already beating the drum to warn of the dangers.
Though ours was like a lonely voice in the desert, people eventually listened as our President, James Michel, continued to hammer the point home, and we soon had a reasonable following.
Today, many experts at the Copenhagen summit can bear witness to the fact that we were indeed among the most vocal pioneers of the crusade, particularly among island nations.
As far back as 2005, President Michel addressed the International Meeting for Sustainable Development of Small Island States, which was held at Les Pailles, Mauritius.
It was then that he and Palau’s Vice-President Chin launched the Global Island Partnership under the patronage of former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, several heads of state and the heads of major international environment NGOs and organisations such as Unep, the GEF, the Nature Conservancy, the IUCN, the WWF, Conservation International and the Convention on Biological Diversity.
The partnership soon grew to over 20 nations, among them small island states, some European Union nations, New Zealand, Australia and Indonesia. Within a short time, the partnership brought together the Micronesia Challenge, the Caribbean Challenge and initiatives in the Indian Ocean, and later led to the formation of the Coral Reef Triangle Initiative.
The Global Island Partnership quickly received strong support from a growing network of political leaders, organisations, agencies and donors and over US $30 million was mobilised for conservation on islands.
In his address to the high-level segment of the conference, Mr Michel said an agreement had been reached on the concept of Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
“We share today, much more than ever before, an acute vulnerability to environmental threats as well as to certain socioeconomic factors,” he said, adding that it was time for action, a point he made during his talks with the then UN secretary-general Mr Annan, who pledged the UN's support for Seychelles across a number of issues, especially to do with the environment.
The former UN chief spoke of such a commitment at an international meeting on coral reefs hosted by Seychelles on the sidelines of the SIDS summit.
Among those who hailed President Michel’s part in the meeting was former president James Mancham, who attended the Mauritius meeting as a consultant to the Inter-religious and International Federation for World Peace.
Mr Mancham said he was pleased that despite pressing issues at home, Mr Michel had attended the international summit.
He said the Mauritius summit was vital in that many SIDS had been marginalised despite some having jurisdiction over large portions of the earth.
When chairing the partnership’s first meeting in Rome in September 2007, the President said by working together, island nations could make a difference that could show the world the bold steps that needed to be taken.
Seychelles took the lead in leveraging world attention and focus on the impacts of climate change on small island states when Mr Michel launched the Sea Level Rise Foundation, a mechanism aimed at galvanising global action to address the devastating impacts of climate change on our planet.
The foundation has since brought resources and expertise together to support small island states, islands and other low-lying areas in adapting to sea-level rise.
“We are running out of time, and we must combine our resources and know-how to avoid the physical damage, and the social and economic toll threatening all island societies. We must maintain and restore the natural protection provided by our healthy island ecosystems,” he said when delivering a keynote address at the opening of the first Global Island Partnership strategy meeting.
In June last year, Mr Michel delivered a statement at a high-level conference of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) at its headquarters in Rome, Italy, organised to talk about food security and poverty reduction in the face of climate change and energy security.
“Food security, climate change and – more recently – bioenergy are closely linked,” he said.
“We are all familiar with climate change, but none more so than the inhabitants of small island states.
“We islanders know full well the meaning of climate change. We have experience of it through our islands, which are disappearing through changing weather patterns, through the dwindling of our fish stocks upon which we depend for our livelihoods.”
He added that with the scarcity of land and the effects of climate change such as land degradation, land salination from sea-level rise and extended droughts, agriculture on small islands has also suffered serious setbacks.
Mr Michel later met Jacques Diouf, director general of the FAO, and they agreed it was opportune to hold the gathering of world leaders to stimulate reflection on the current world crisis of soaring prices and shortages of some basic foods.
He briefed Mr Diouf about our fisheries management plan, whose main aim is to manage the dwindling resources in the artisanal and semi-industrial fisheries, particularly in the face of climate change. The FAO gave its commitment to support this initiative by providing technical help.
At the 63rd session of the United Nations General Assembly held in New York on September 25 last year, Mr Michel reminded the world that Seychelles, like many other small island states, remains vulnerable to the threats posed by global warming, climate change and sea-level rise.
“These phenomena are linked to human activity on our planet and we, collectively as nations of the world, have the power to influence them if only we have the will to do so.
“It is not right that small island states have to run the risk of being submerged by rising sea levels while some nations refuse to acknowledge their responsibility for the high levels of environmental pollution which are now threatening the planet’s resources,” he said.
Mr Michel told the world that despite our size, we shall continue to lead by example, ensuring that sustainable development is achievable in our present generation. When the opportunity presented itself in Doha, Qatar, in November last year, Mr Michel said we need “green financing – investment in the environment, in conservation and alternative energy which are long term and do not bring immediate returns”.
“Preferential terms should be available for all grants of loans linked to environmental sustainability,” he said.
As this year began, Seychelles hit headlines around the world with the President’s promise that our pristine environment would continue to be protected even if we discovered oil.
Recent seismic surveys suggest there are large hydrocarbon reserves that can yield billions of barrels of oil, and Seychelles has signed production agreements with a number of countries.
“Whatever exploration is done, whatever drilling is done, they will be done in a way that protects the environment,” said articles published around the world based on an interview Mr Michel gave to Reuters at State House on January 9.
“Our environmental policy must remain. Seychelles will not itself refine any oil found because the refining process remains a ‘dirty business’ using today’s technology. We have to derive the maximum benefit but keep the Seychelles environment clean,” Mr Michel said in the presence of a Seychelles Nation journalist.
In his address to the World Future Energy Summit held in Abu Dhabi in January, Mr Michel said in our rush for investment and stimulation of economic growth, humanity has failed to understand that the limits of the planet have been stretched to the bone. He told the audience that in Seychelles we have already embarked on a number of sustainable energy initiatives with the active cooperation of the future energy company Masdar.
“We need energy but not to the detriment of our common heritage. We all share the same planet, the same air, water and oceans,” he said.
President Michel is to attend the Copenhagen climate summit, which started on December 7 and will go on until December 18. Representatives of about 190 countries are expected to renew greenhouse gas reduction targets set by the Kyoto Protocol, the first commitment period of which is to expire in 2012. It is also expected to outline the post-2012 negotiation path.