51ÁÔÆæ

Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,

Let me begin with a simple truth: rising seas are not good for anyone.

Not for small island developing states.

Not for low-lying coastal communities.

Not for major cities, including this one, right here, the city of New York.

We all have a stake in protecting our people, our homes, our infrastructure, our economies, and indeed our future.

And the need for protection is urgent.

Global mean sea level is rising at more than twice the rate observed during the first decade of satellite records: from 2.1 millimetres a year between 1993 and 2002 to 4.7 millimetres annually between 2015 and 2024.

Around 900 million people live in low-lying coastal zones, and more than one billion people could be exposed to coastal hazards by 2050.

The evidence is everywhere.

On Canada’s Prince Edward Island, record coastal erosion in 2022 showed how rapidly shorelines can be reshaped in a single year.

In the twin islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis, saltwater intrusion threatens freshwater aquifers on which communities depend.

In Sao Tome and Principe, coastal erosion and salinization are already undermining livelihoods and infrastructure.

And right here in New York City, sea levels are projected to rise by up to 1.3 metres by the end of the century, and by far more if Antarctic ice melts rapidly.

That’s enough to turn our august Assembly Hall into a very large wading pool.

Excellencies,

Sea-level rise does not respect borders.

It does not stop at North or South, developed or developing, rich or poor

It does not care about the size of our economies or the might of our militaries.

But while the threat is shared, the burden is not.

Countries with the fewest resources- and the least capacity to adapt, relocate and rebuild- are often those facing the greatest risks.

For them, the future is already here.

Already happening now in front of our eyes.

My own country Bangladesh knows this reality well.

It sits in one of the world’s largest and most densely populated river deltas.

A one-metre rise in sea level could inundate around 4,000 square kilometres of land, nearly 3 per cent of the country’s territory. And by 2050, climate impacts including rising seas could force more than 13 million people to move within the country.

We have recently seen the heartbreaking flash floods in Nepal and China; so, we are caught between rising sea and melting snow. And you know how it feels to be in that kind of situation.

The same reality confronts small island developing States. Between 1970 and 2020, SIDS lost $153 billion to climate hazards- more than ten times their average annual GDP.

Behind these numbers are homes and livelihoods lost.

Communities uprooted or disappeared.

Cultural heritage endangered or lost.

Development gains reversed.

And the impacts also extend far beyond the coast.

Ports carry more than 80 per cent of global merchandise trade.

When sea-level rise and coastal flooding disrupt ports, roads, power systems and supply chains, the effects are felt in food prices, medicines, jobs and household budgets worldwide.

This is why prevention and preparedness are not optional. They are among the most cost-effective, humane and responsible investments we can make.

Excellencies,

General Assembly decision 78/558, “Enhancing action on sea-level rise,” committed Member States to strengthening international cooperation and partnerships for comprehensive and effective responses to sea-level rise.

It also mandated this meeting and called for a “concise, action-oriented and intergovernmentally negotiated declaration.”

Our responsibility is clear: to ensure that today’s Political Declaration becomes a practical path forward for delivery.

That requires three things.

First, political will.

We must treat sea-level rise as a defining development, humanitarian, economic and security challenge, not as a distant environmental concern.

We must improve cooperation across climate action, disaster-risk reduction, development finance, infrastructure planning and human mobility.

Second, science, data and solutions.

We already know much of what works: resilient coastal infrastructure; restoration of mangroves, wetlands and reefs; risk-informed land-use planning; early-warning systems; social protection; and locally led adaptation.

From coastal protection in the Nile Delta, to land reclamation and resilience planning in Tuvalu, to nature-based defences in New York, communities are demonstrating that action is possible.

The issue is no longer whether solutions exist. It is whether they are available to those who need them most, at the scale and speed required.

This brings me to my third and most important point: to succeed, we need the resources to deliver.

And here, frankly, we have much further to go.

Developing countries are estimated to need between $310 billion and $365 billion annually for adaptation by 2035.

Yet international public adaptation finance flows to developing countries stood at just $26 billion in 2023.

In other words, adaptation needs are 12 to 14 times greater than current flows.

This gap is not merely a financing problem. It is a test of international solidarity.

Many of the countries most at risk from sea-level rise are also those most burdened by debt, disasters and limited fiscal space.

We must therefore make adaptation finance more predictable, accessible and concessional, especially for SIDS, LDCs and low-lying coastal countries.

We must support and adequately resource the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage.

And we must pursue debt solutions that create fiscal space for resilience,

Excellencies,

At the 2014 Climate Summit, Marshallese poet Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner imagined what rising seas could mean for her infant daughter:

“they say you, your daughter
and your granddaughter, too
will wander rootless
with only a passport to call home”

Her words capture what statistics cannot.

Sea-level rise is ultimately about people. About our heritage, our identity and the world we leave to our children.

In adopting today’s Political Declaration, the Assembly recognizes these many dimensions of sea-level rise and, more importantly, the many faces behind them: from the Marshall Islands to Prince Edward Island, from my own Dhaka to right here in New York.

This Declaration is a statement of shared responsibility and a promise to future generations.

As we build on the desertification COP in Ulaanbaatar and look ahead to the biodiversity and climate COPs in Yerevan and Antalya, the inaugural BBNJ COP in New York, and to the 2027 SDG Summit, let us do right by our commitment with greater coordination and ambition.

That is the responsibility before us.

Let us meet it together.

I thank you.