UNESCO. General Conference; 30th; Records ... - unesdoc - Unesco

fact that the marine areas would be thrown out and all of a sudden IOC would have ocean and coastal areas. In
those circumstances - I am reading again from his speech - and considering that the Statutes were approved
unanimously by our Member States, we would wish to have an explanation for the suggested changes, and we
would like to have the opportunity for the Commission to react to the changes proposed. He ends by saying, and
this is what I would like to emphasize, “even if that means postponing the final approval of the Statutes by two or
more years”.
51.5 Now, Madam President, I want to go back to the text of my written presentation in the Commission,
where we emphasize why we think that Belize, though small, has something to say about marine processes in
these areas. We emphasize, Madam President, that UNESCO’s activities in the area of hydrology and water
resources development are extremely important to Belize, as evidenced by the establishment of a national marine
research centre in 1994. Belize understands the vital linkage between environment and sustainable coastal marine
development. Let me let that sink in. We intentionally use the language “coastal marine development”. As a
marine and coastal scientist, it is too harsh to say that many of the people who come to this field have a terrestrial
perspective, so when we talk about coastal areas, unfortunately they all think of the terrestrial aspects. If an
organization whose remit is marine science is to take over our coastal management, it may itself be caught up in
the same way and may not be representative of interests that are crucial to us.
51.6 We continued the Belize statement by saying that this commitment is reflected in Belize’s recent
membership in the Caribbean Coastal Marine Productivity Programme, or CARICOM, which is a regional
network of laboratories and research institutions from over 20 nations in the subregion and its purpose is to study
and document the intricate connections between coral reefs, sea grasses and mangrove forests. Accordingly,
Belize applauded UNESCO’s environment and development in coastal regions and small islands subprogramme,
as well as the IOC’s Caribbean subcommission, IOCARIBE, in their support of CARICOM, which is well
documented in a recent SCI publication. We close, Madam President, and we will close right now, with the same
emphasis. We would wish to bring to the attention of you and this august body Belize’s support for the further
strengthening of linkages between UNESCO’s many science activities and for the linking of these activities to
other United Nations mandates and conventions. But it is not only UNCLOS: we in particular would like to refer
to the review and appraisal of the programme of action for the sustainable development of small island
developing States.
51.7 One of the major conventions of the decade seems to have been forgotten in all of our conferences. We
reminded the conference in Hungary about that. We would like to remind you further: in September, two months
ago, a major review was carried out of the SIDS POA. It was presented to the special session called by the
General Assembly of the United Nations for that special purpose. This global agenda for small island developing
States, Madam President, which emerged from the 1994 Barbados Programme of Action, is unique in that it
represents the Caribbean’s first but not last contribution to the international community’s growing list of
commitments and agreements. I end this intervention by reiterating the six priority areas that have arisen from the
SIDS POA review: the first, adapting to climate change and rising sea levels; the second, improving preparedness
for and recovery from natural and environmental disasters; the third, preventing worsening shortages of fresh
water as demand grows; the fourth - and very pertinent to our discussions right now - protecting coastal
ecosystems and coral reefs from pollution and over-fishing; the fifth, developing solar and renewable energy to
lessen dependence on expensive imported oil, and the last, and very important to countries like Belize, managing
tourism growth to protect the environment and cultural diversity.
51.8 I close, Madam President, by saying that I endorse the intentions and the words of the representative of
Tonga. If they have to be changed to suit the lawyers, no problem, but I have to say that we support their
intention to protect their sustainable survival in the twenty-first century. Thank you.
52. The PRESIDENT:
I thank the representative of Belize. I should like to ask the speakers to try to make their contributions as
concise as possible because there are still many speakers on the list. I now call on the representative of Burkina
Faso.
53. M. SOME (Burkina Faso) :
Merci, Madame la Présidente. Le Burkina Faso souhaite exprimer sa satisfaction au Président pour
l'excellent rapport qu'il a présenté et demande qu'à la page 3 du rapport oral qui figure dans le document
30 C/INF.53, il soit précisé que le réseau africain de mathématiques appliquées est actuellement coordonné par le
Burkina Faso. Il ne s'agit pas là d'un amendement. Merci, Madame la Présidente.
54. The PRESIDENT:
Thank you. The representative of Malaysia now has the floor.
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