UN General Assembly
1996

good number of our public-works services are being privatized. For a small island developing country such as the Federated States of Micronesia, the condition and productivity of our limited land areas, and of the seas that surround us, are key to our survival. Only in recent times have we, and others like us, come to realize the vulnerability and fragile nature of a world long taken for granted. It is in the nature of islands to regard our remoteness as our primary protection against all dangers. But the twentieth century has taught us how the land on which we live, and the resources of the sea on which we depend, can be destroyed as a consequence of events that take place far from our own shores. Thus, we are compelled to raise our voice against long-standing actions and practices throughout the world as well as within our own region. As long ago as 1972, Principle 21 of the Stockholm Declaration established that national sovereignty can no longer be asserted to justify actions that