UN General Assembly
2024

Climate change is not an abstract, or academic threat. For my people, and the people of SIDS, it is a persistent and destructive reality. Intense hurricanes are now an annual terror. Coastal erosion is wiping away our productive areas for tourism and agriculture. The climate crisis is not on the horizon. It is here, now, burning through our ecosystems, flooding our villages, and leaving us with fewer tomorrows. And yet, we find ourselves at an absurd situation: continuing to subsidize the very industries that are accelerating our destruction. Fossil fuel companies have become the architects of our demise, while generating ostentatious profits for their owners. We must fight to end this madness, in protection of our planet and in the interest of humanity. We need a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, to halt the reckless destruction of our environment, to end fossil fuel subsidies and to chart a course toward a sustainable future, with a negotiated and graduated transition.