UN General Assembly
2007

never”, when in 1987, exactly 20 years ago, President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom of the Republic of the Maldives alerted us that he did not come to speak about international political issues but rather about “the death of a nation”, the death of a nation whose 1,190 islands will be virtually submerged with the rise in sea level owing to climate change. The emergency hotline must respond not only to 11 September but to all the emergencies covered by the Charter of the United Nations. It is time to pay our debt to nature. We simply cannot continue to distort the evidence of climate change. Regardless of how inconvenient the truth may be or what our respective shares of responsibility are, the truth is here to stay. Year after year we are reminded of it with greater frequency and intensity. In Costa Rica where the most species per square kilometre of anywhere in the world are found, we are committed to going beyond our obligations. We have adopted concrete and sustainable actions, such as