AOSIS Statement delivered by

Ms Farzana Zahir, Deputy Permanent Representative

on Agriculture Development, Food Security and Nutrition

12 October 2018

Mr. Chair,

I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States (aosis). We align ourselves with the statement delivered by the distinguished representative of Egypt on behalf of the Group of 77 and China.   

We thank the Secretary General for his Report on this agenda item. The world hunger is on the rise, and unless we bring a course correction immediately, there is a risk that we might not eradicate hunger by 2030. The sg’s Report has identified climate change as one of the primary causes of hunger. According to the Report, climate change multiplies existing threats to food security and nutrition, making food production, including fisheries extremely vulnerable.  

Food security and nutrition in the small island developing States are under severe threat from climate change, environmental degradation, including declining ocean health, and global economic crises. For sids, the nexus between food security, climate action and sustainable ocean becomes more enhanced due to our vulnerability to external shocks and limited resource.   

Rapid changes in temperatures and increasing levels of flooding or drought, can contribute to reduced agricultural yields in the small island developing States, reducing our limited capacity for local food production. Rising sea levels results in salt water encroachment, threatening coastal farmland and fresh water supply. The few sids with coastal farmland also face threats from increasingly intense and frequent natural disasters, which destroy crops, and damage production, and transport infrastructure.   

Similarly, as ocean health declines, so do the opportunities for sids communities to access safe, nutritious food. Marine pollution, with increasing ocean acidification, further exacerbated by high temperatures, and the illegal unreported and unregulated fishing, all threaten marine resources, and as such, we continue to call for sustainable use and management of oceans and seas. Many sids are net food importing countries, and highly vulnerable to the volatility of commodity prices and global supply, as well as high import costs. These imported foods also have a negative impact, contributing to increasing patterns of poor nutrition, with increasing instances of non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and other conditions.  

Prevalence of obesity and ncds associated with poor quality diets, in many sids, are among the highest in the world. This is an issue that goes way beyond just the treatment of the disease. For the people of sids, unless there is increased resilience, low disaster risk, improved ocean health, and reversal in climate change; food and nutrition challenges will continue to be a major concern. sids are working on initiatives to address these related challenges, including through the fao led Global Action Programme, intended to provide policy guidance to help sids build more sustainable and resilient food systems. We encourage full engagement with this initiative as lack of financing remains a significant obstacle to moving forward.   

There needs to be continued mainstreaming of the different agendas to increasingly appreciate how they are interlinked. Agriculture cannot be addressed in a silo without considering health systems, water security, climate change, declining ocean health due to our reliance on ocean ecosystems for food, the high costs of imported foods and crops, high volatility of commodity markets, and remoteness – they are interrelated and as we are working with our governments to improve understanding of these relationships and connections, we similarly ask our development partners to do the same.   

We continue to prioritize this issue and hope we can work with others to see progress.

I thank you.

Statement delivered by 

Ms Farzana Zahir, Deputy Permanent Representative 

On Microeconomic Policy Questions  

11 October 2018

Thank you Mr Chair,  

The Maldives aligns with the statements by aosis, and Egypt on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. I also wish to thank the Secretary-General for the comprehensive Reports that has been presented to inform the deliberations under this agenda item. One common point that is suggestive in all the thematic areas covered in the sg’s Reports is that the overall objective of our discussions under this Agenda item should be coordinating our national macroeconomic policies for the purpose of achieving the Goals in the 2030 Agenda.   

The Maldives is pleased to note that it has maintained sustained economic growth in the past few years and is expected maintain this trajectory. To further accelerate the development growth, the Maldives is committed to strengthen economic fundamentals and institutional capacity, and improve governance structures. In July this year, for example, the Maldives signed an agreement with the World Bank to further improve the public sector financial management system of the Maldives.  

These on-going efforts seek to further enhance the transparency, accountability, and efficiency in budgeting, debt management, stronger preparation and prioritization of high impact and affordable public investments, optimize cost and risks of public debt, and improve public procurement and improve the efficient delivery of public services.   

One significant result of policy decisions that the Maldives has made in recent years is the favourable credit ratings that the Maldives continues to receive from international credit rating agencies. Despite these achievements, challenges remain; challenges that are unique to the small and open economies, such as geographical isolation, high unit cost of capital investment and service delivery, and the highly specialised nature of the industries that comprise our economies.   

To overcome such challenges, the Maldives has made a strategic decision to invest in modernizing critical infrastructure. This is expected to further stimulate the country’s main industries and lead to long-term sustainable development.  

The Maldives has invested in building airports near key population centres in the atolls. We have also expanded the runway at our main international airport as part of the on-going expansion of the airport terminal to reach our targets of boosting the tourism industry and creating jobs. Just a few weeks ago, we also opened a bridge that connects the capital city Malé with the main international airport and the reclaimed suburb of Hulhumalé. International financial institutions need to be more sensitive, and indeed, more flexible, in considering requests for concessional financing from the small islands-developing States, especially, the newly graduated sids.  

Without such a conducive and facilitative environment, the concept of multilateralism that the sg’s Reports have advanced, will not be inclusive. And without an inclusive and encouraging multilateral framework, sids, such as the Maldives, would not be able to maintain sustained economic growth and meet the sdgs.

I thank you.