excellencies ladies and gentlemen talafa from the shores of beautiful tuvalu islands it is my great honor to be speaking to you today and i do not take for granted this opportunity to speak to you in glasgow as you discuss the fate of the world and the fate of small island states including those in the beautiful pacific region [Music] climate change and sea level rise are deadly and existential threats to tuvalu and low-lying at all countries we are sinking but so is everyone else and no matter if we feel the impacts today like in tuvalu or
in 100 years we will all still feel the die effects of this global crisis one day in tuvalu our islands are sacred to us they contain the mana of our people they were the home of our ancestors they are the home of our people today and we want them to remain the home of our people into the future this is why this call to you from tuvalu is not just a political statement it is a call that reverberates from our 8 islands and our 12 000 people to the international community we are petitioning and demanding
that global net zero be secured by mid-century that 1.5 degrees be kept within reach that urgently needed climate finance be mobilized to address loss and damage and that there be greater accountability from all nations and people to act as good stewards of the earth [Music] but we are also not going to wait for the world to get its act together we are looking to the future and preparing now for the worst case scenario where our lands disappear and our people must leave we will not stand idly by as the water rises around us we're not
just talking in tuvalu we are mobilizing collective action at home in our region and on the international stage to secure our future on the national level we are pursuing bold legal avenues to ensure that tuvalu's existing maritime boundaries will remain intact and we will be recognized as sovereign even if our land territory is lost to climate change we are also rapidly adopting innovative digital tools and platforms to build a digital nation new digitized systems will allow us to continue to fully function as a sovereign state regardless of land loss or relocation at the regional level
we see the tremendous importance of platforms like the pacific climate change migration and human security program and the joint working group on climate-related mobility co-chaired by tuvalu and fiji these platforms will provide pacific led arrangements to support climate-related migration that are informed by our unique cultures values and ways of life outside of our pacific family our global family is still critical to us and we will not give up on cop we will continue to promote our value of kaitasi which refers to our shared responsibility to act in the best interest of the global community and
also the value of falepili which represents our duty to act as good neighbours to all nations and peoples we all have a responsibility at cop26 to address climate change and ensure that climate mobility at whatever scale takes center stage in tuvalu we are living the realities of climate change sea level rise as you stand watching me today at club 26 we cannot wait for speeches when the sea is rising around us all the time climate mobility must come to the forefront we must take bold alternative action today to secure tomorrow bafta to value mode [Music]
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