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| (President Peter Christian addressing the Our Ocean conference during the Global Ocean Leadership panel) |
September 15, 2016 (Washington, DC,
USA) - President of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) Peter Christian
delivered remarks to a high-level audience during the first day of the 3rd
Our Ocean conference, hosted by United States Secretary of State John Kerry. The
purpose of the annual Our Ocean conference is to catalyze actions to protect
our shared ocean resources and empower a new generation to lead the way toward
a healthy and sustainable ocean.
The President was the first to speak on
the panel entitled Global Ocean Leadership, which also included Mauritius Prime
Minister Ameenah Gurib-Fakim and four Vice Presidents and Foreign Ministers. He
set the scene by relating the outcomes of the 47th Pacific Island
Forum (PIF) Leaders’ Meeting held in Pohnpei last week, including the Forum
Communiqué, which contains an Annex entitled the Pohnpei
Ocean Statement: A Course to Sustainability. This statement
emphasizes the centrality of oceans for Pacific peoples and livelihoods, and it
highlights the importance of achieving the targets under Sustainable Development
Goal 14 to secure the health and productivity of the oceans and the wellbeing of
future generations. As current Chair of the Forum, he also reiterated his
welcome to the newest full members of the Forum, French Polynesia and New
Caledonia.
For audience members at the Our Ocean
conference who were unfamiliar with the FSM, the President said in jest that
one way to get to there would be to board a flight from Hawaii to Sydney and,
about 8 hours into the flight, jump out of the right side of the plane and land
right in Micronesia. Further to the FSM’s geography, he said that the land mass
of the islands is small, but the area of ocean that the FSM governs is vast
enough to comfortably fit the entire United States. He reflected on how fishing
practices in FSM waters have changed with the advent of new technologies,
especially those that allow fish to be frozen and stored. This has not only
caused stress on coastal resources and biodiversity, but, in some cases, it has
also diminished neighborly relations, which were once generous with respect to
sharing daily catch.
President Christian concluded his
remarks with an emphasis on the connection between climate change and ocean
health. In this regard, he thanked representatives of the global community for
their support to successfully adopt the Paris Climate Agreement, which the FSM
officially ratified on September 15, 2016, in advance of the September 21
United Nations (UN) Secretary General’s high-level event on accelerating the
Agreement’s entry into force.
Throughout both days of the Our Ocean
conference, an important aspect was the contribution of specific commitments to
protect the ocean by many participants, including States, non-governmental
organizations, scientific entities and foundations. Between sessions, many
representatives of these States and organizations briefly took the floor to verbally
announce their commitments. The list of commitments and programs can be found
on the Our
Ocean website.
On September 14, the evening before the
Our Ocean conference commenced, President Christian also delivered remarks at
Pacific Day, an event hosted annually by the Pacific embassies in Washington,
DC and held at the New Zealand Embassy to the United States. In his remarks
entitled “Small Islands, Big Ocean”, he placed a strong emphasis on climate
change, referring to it as a “titanic challenge”, and calling on global leaders
to stop resisting the science and do the right thing for planet Earth. He also related
the key outcomes of the 47th PIF Leaders’ Meeting and highlighted
the recent designation of Nan Madol as a World Heritage site by the UN
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
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| President Peter Christian delivers remarks entitled “Small Islands, Big Ocean” at Pacific Day at the Embassy of New Zealand in Washington, DC. |
The President’s delegation to Washington, DC, included FSM
Secretary of Foreign Affairs Lorin Robert, Secretary of Resources and
Development Marion Henry, Secretary of Justice Joses Gallen, Director of Office
of Environment and Emergency Management (OEEM) Andrew Yatilman, Executive
Director of the National Oceanic Resources Management Authority (NORMA) Eugene
Pangelinan, and the President’s Chief of Staff Leo Falcam, Jr.
The 47th Pacific Islands Forum Communiqué is
available here: http://www.forumsec.org/resources/uploads/embeds/file/2016_Forum_Communique_11sept(1).pdf
Annex 3 of the Forum Communiqué, the Pohnpei Ocean
Statement: A Course to Sustainability: http://www.forumsec.org/resources/uploads/embeds/file/Annex%203%20-
The list of commitments made by Our Ocean participants is
available here:
Video of Pacific Day (President Christian’s remarks begin at
the 31:00 mark), available here: https://www.csis.org/events/pacific-day-2016
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