Climate, debt and peace top Antigua PM’s UN call
Prime Minister Gaston Brownea delivered a powerful address to the 79th United Nations General Assembly yesterday, issuing an urgent call for global action on climate change, economic justice, and peace.
Speaking on behalf of Small Island Developing States (SIDS), Browne painted a stark picture of the existential threats facing vulnerable nations and demanded concrete steps from the international community.
Prime Minister Browne did not mince words about the severity of the climate crisis for SIDS, stating: “Climate change is not an abstract, or academic threat. For my people, and the people of SIDS, it is a persistent and destructive reality.”
He warned that current trajectories could lead to a catastrophic 2.8°C rise in global temperatures, which he described as “nothing less than a death sentence for Small Island States.”
To combat this threat, Browne called for several bold measures, including a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, a global levy on fossil fuel companies to fund climate mitigation efforts, swift action to capitalize and operationalize the Loss and Damage Fund, and implementation of the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index (MVI) by international financial institutions.
“Let COP29 be the moment we draw a line in the sand,” Browne declared. “Let it be known – we can no longer afford the luxury of delay.”
The Prime Minister also highlighted the need for major reforms to the international financial system, which he described as “skewed, outdated, and unjust.”
He emphasized the burden of debt facing small states, much of it arising from recovery spending after climate-related disasters.
Browne advocated for the SIDS Debt Sustainability Support Service, calling it “a critical mechanism that can provide tailored solutions, utilizing debt for climate swaps, debt relief, repurposing of SDRs and carbon pricing funding to help us escape the cycle of unsustainable debt.” He stressed: “This is not charity – it is the justice of financial inclusion.”
Addressing ongoing conflicts around the world, Browne made impassioned pleas for peace and diplomacy. He proposed an innovative initiative for International Music Concerts for Peace, stating: “Music is a universal language. It speaks to the soul in ways that words cannot.”
Regarding the Middle East conflict, Browne called for an end to violence and urged negotiations, saying: “We believe that the only sustainable resolution is the creation of two sovereign states, with borders respected and rights upheld.”
In concluding his speech, Prime Minister Browne emphasized the critical juncture facing the global community: “The world is crumbling under the weight of crises – poverty, wars, pandemic and the climate devastation. We are at a defining moment, and the choices we make now will determine the fate of every nation, large and small.”
He called for unity and decisive action, declaring: “Let us choose peace. Let us choose justice. And let us choose the survival of our one human race, in our one homeland – the planet Earth.”
