UN / SMALL ISLANDS

27-Sep-2019 00:02:25
Actor Jason Momoa joined United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and leaders from small island developing States at a special event to urge action to address the devastating impact of climate change on these vulnerable countries. UNIFEED / FILE
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STORY: UN / SMALL ISLANDS
TRT: 2:25
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH /NATS

DATELINE: 27 SEPTEMBER 2019, NEW YORK CITY/ FILE
SHOTLIST
24 SEPTEMBER 2019, NEW YORK CITY

1. Exterior shot, United Nations flag at UN Headquarters

27 SEPTEMBER 2019, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, conference room
3. Wide shot, conference room
4. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations:
“The climate crisis is piling injustice upon injustice. Despite contributing very little, practically nothing, to global warming, small island developing States are paying the highest price.”
5. Wide shot, conference room
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama, Prime Minister of Fiji:
“There is one place the UN system can undoubtedly make a difference: it’s in helping fund small States to carry out what we know, and we are proving, can be done.”
7. Wide shot, conference room
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Jason Momoa, Actor:
“We suffer a collective amnesia of a truth that was once understood: the truth that to cause irreversible damage to the earth is to bring the same unto ourselves.”
9. Wide shot, conference room
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Jason Momoa, Actor:
“The planet is nothing more than an island floating amongst an ocean of stars. Life on a floating vessel has limited resources. It requires strict conservation practices and carefully planned navigation to ensure survival. We must work together as a global community to best steer our canoe in the right direction: the direction of a healthy and abundant future on earth that we call home.”
11. Wide shot, conference room
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados, on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States:
“What concerns me is that the opportunity and the possibilities of the new economy are on our doorstep, but yet we fail to grasp them.”
13. Wide shot, conference room

FILE - MAY 2019 – VANUATU

14. Drone shot, coastline

FILE - MAY 2019 – TUVALU

15. Drone shot, island of Tuvalu

FILE - MAY 2019 – FIJI

16. Drone shot, coastline moving inland
STORYLINE
Actor Jason Momoa joined United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and leaders from small island developing States at a special event on Friday (27 September) to urge action to address the devastating impact of climate change on these vulnerable countries.

Momoa warned, “We suffer a collective amnesia of a truth that was once understood: the truth that to cause irreversible damage to the earth is to bring the same unto ourselves.”

He added, “The planet is nothing more than an island floating amongst an ocean of stars. Life on a floating vessel has limited resources. It requires strict conservation practices and carefully planned navigation to ensure survival. We must work together as a global community to best steer our canoe in the right direction: the direction of a healthy and abundant future on earth that we call home.”

Guterres said, “The climate crisis is piling injustice upon injustice. Despite contributing very little, practically nothing, to global warming, small island developing States are paying the highest price.”

Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama, the Prime Minister of Fiji, said, “There is one place the UN system can undoubtedly make a difference: it’s in helping fund small States to carry out what we know, and we are proving, can be done.”

Speaking on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados said, “What concerns me is that the opportunity and the possibilities of the new economy are on our doorstep, but yet we fail to grasp them.”

Already on the frontlines of climate change, sustainable development in many small island developing States is threatened by difficulties in achieving sustained high levels of economic growth, owing in part to their vulnerabilities to the ongoing negative impacts of environmental challenges and external economic and financial shocks.

Today's event adopted a political declaration that reaffirms their solidarity with these countries which remain a special case for sustainable development.

Progress toward sustainable development in small island developing States will require a major increase in urgent investment, according to participants at the event, formally titled the the High-level Midterm Review of the Small Island Developing States Accelerated Modalities of Action, also known as the SAMOA Pathway.

The SAMOA Pathway, adopted at the Third International Conference on small island developing States held in Apia, Samoa, in 2014, is a dedicated 10-year programme of action to promote international assistance to address the unique set of challenges these islands face. Five years after the ambitious framework was adopted, the High-Level Midterm Review provides leaders with the opportunity to discuss progress on combating the devastating impact of climate change, building economic and environmental resilience, and other challenges facing small island developing States.

Leaders at today’s event expressed their concern about the devastating impacts of climate change, the increasing frequency, scale and intensity of disasters and called for urgent and ambitious global action in line with the Paris Agreement to address these threats and their impacts.


They called on the international community to mobilize additional development finance from all sources and at all levels to support small island developing States and welcomed the ownership, leadership and efforts demonstrated by these States in advancing the Implementation of the SAMOA Pathway.
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