Gobierno de Reconciliación y Unidad Nacional
Unida Nicaragua Triunfa
STATEMENT BY THE DELEGATION OF NICARAGUA AT THE OAS PANEL ON DECARBONIZATION
OF DEVELOPMENT IN THE AMERICAS, INTER-AMERICAN COUNCIL FOR INTEGRAL DEVELOPMENT (CIDI)
OCTOBER 29, 2019
Madam President,
1. The delegation of the Government of Reconciliation and National Unity of Nicaragua (GRUN) expresses its gratitude for the presentations made by the distinguished speakers on this important topic.
2. It is important to discuss, in depth, the great challenges and obstacles on what decarbonization represents, as well as its relationship with the sustainable development of the Americas.
3. It is therefore, advisable to work together to address the economic, political and social actions that are affecting global warming, analyzing its implications in the short, medium and long term and the adverse impact of Climate Change on the development of our countries, especially in highly vulnerable developing countries, such as Nicaragua, Central America and the Caribbean, that increasingly face more frequent and intense atmospheric phenomena.
4. As indicated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), if the temperature rises to 2°C, the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda will not be fulfilled because of water scarcity, lower soil yields for food production, reduced nutrition, more diseases, more poverty, exclusion and inequality. This, Madam President, is not an option for humanity, there is no Plan B, we must limit the temperature to 1.5ºC.
5. Hence the need to change this carbonization system, which is a predator of Nature, we must replace the current and selfish patterns of production and consumption, in order to establish a new economic and financial model, which allows for the creation of new paradigms of production and consumption of goods and services, enables us to carry out a Humanist Energy Transition, low in Carbon, but very high in Solidarity with the dispossessed, very high in ambition and values that strengthen international cooperation to implement the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular, the Eradication of Poverty, and of course, a friendly Transition, in harmony with Mother Earth.
6. Strong and forceful political will of the States is required to immediately stop environmental pollution, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, limit the temperature increase to 1.5ºC., as highlighted by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in relation to the commitments of the Paris Agreement, for which, it is required that developed countries provide financing for measures or actions for Adaptation and Mitigation, in our developing countries.
7. It was thanks to the political will of Comandante Daniel Ortega, President of the Republic and Vice President Rosario Murillo, who have assumed with a visionary approach the importance of facing the challenge of decarbonization, that for the last 10 years the GRUN has sustainably achieved a significant and exemplary transformation of the energy matrix in our country. Regarding renewable energy, we have gone from 26% in 2007, to 62% today, obtaining a lower dependence on oil and the reduction of greenhouse gases, having a positive impact on socio-economic development, stimulating trade, investment and tourism in the country.
8. Nicaragua is responsible for only 0.03% of greenhouse gas emissions globally, however in fulfillment with our Shared but Differentiated responsibilities, we have moved towards renewable energy. We have continuously carried out a process of reforestation and restoration of 2.8 million hectares of degraded land as part of the 20 × 20 Initiative in Latin America and the “Bonn Challenge” with the objective of reducing 18 million tons of Carbon Dioxide (CO2e) within the national ENDE-REDD initiative that has the support of the World Bank Forest Carbon Partnership Fund (FCPF).
9. As a country, we have been maintaining in the meetings of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and in the different world forums, the importance of a fair transition to a low carbon economy, in accordance with the international agreements, taking into account the conclusions of the IPCC, in its study to limit the average increase of global temperature to 1.5°C.
10. National Plans and Nationally Determined Contributions communicated to the Paris Agreement, will be a great contribution to Decarbonization of the Americas, to the extent that Developed Countries provide the necessary, new and predictable financing for Adaptation and Mitigation, Capacity Building, and Technology Transfer to the developing countries of our region.
11. The Government of Nicaragua rejects the practice of certain powerful countries that have imposed unilateral economic and political coercive measures on developing countries with the objective of forcing the sovereign will of those States and obtaining any kind of advantages from them. Such illegal actions are contrary to International Law, and constitute measures that prevent the eradication of Poverty, undermine the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, and restrict the Creation of State Response Capabilities to address the adverse consequences of Climate Change.
12. We consider important to continue the discussions on decarbonization of development in the Americas, which will involve greater efforts by our countries to achieve substantial and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, always basing their implementation on the principle of Shared but Differentiated Responsibilities, also recalling the Historical Responsibilities of developed countries on this subject.
This leads us to reflect and make serious decisions so that we do not continue to allow international markets to continue determining the Carbon Dioxide Equivalent Emissions (CO2e).
Nor that in order to achieve greater concentrations of wealth and income, the ecosystem and the quality of life of the planet continue to be affected.
13. Developed countries, using the resources of a carbon economy, reached their current levels, now it is time to give back. Our Peoples will firmly defend the right to Development, promoting a Just Humanistic Energy Transition, in Peace, with Social Justice, now protecting Mother Earth, with the teachings of our indigenous peoples.
14. Nicaragua will continue to defend Multilateralism, a just world order, based on International Law, in full respect for the Sovereignty and Self-Determination of Peoples.
Thank you very much Madam President.