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“The Future in our Hands: Addressing the Leadership Challenge of Climate Change”
Statement by
His Excellency General Surayud Chulanont (Ret.)
Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand
at the Thematic Plenary I - Adaptation
of the United Nations’ High-Level Event on Climate Change
“The Future in our Hands: Addressing the Leadership Challenge of Climate Change”
UN Headquarters, New York, 24 September 2007
Mr. Secretary-General,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,First of all, I would like to thank the United Nations Secretary-General for convening this remarkable event on climate change. This meeting is indeed an opportune time for Leaders to discuss how the international community could do more to tackle this most challenging environmental issue of our time.
No one can deny that we have been struggling with turbulent weather patterns and increasingly severe natural disasters. The calamities caused by weather and natural phenomena in various parts of the world serve as warning signs of the devastating impact of climate change. We ignore them at our peril.
In the face of this challenge we have the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), within which the debate is one of “common but differentiated responsibilities”. Each nation’s individual effort is a jigsaw part of the global picture. If one piece is left out, the picture is incomplete.
Through adaptation, each of us is responding to changes in our natural environment. But as we try to adjust to climate change and cope with the consequences, there is much that we can learn from one another. Thailand has responded to rising sea levels and coastal encroachment by building coastal defences, as well as through natural means of regenerating our mangrove forests. We are also responding to the ever more vicious circle of flood and drought in various areas of the country through a comprehensive water management strategy.
Our general message is one of promoting self-immunity and resilience in the face of challenges, in line with the philosophy of His Majesty the King, which are reflected in our current National Economic and Social Development Plan. Through the New Theory in agriculture, we are encouraging farmers to promote sustainability by engaging in mixed cropping alongside income generating activities, rather than relying on a single cash crop. In so doing, we are reducing vulnerability to crop failure and other threats. And we do believe that building more sustainable livelihoods will enable our people to better meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Adaptation strategies therefore exist. But we need them to be applied more extensively in each country, and we need more effective mechanisms to pass on best practices. Also, adaptation alone is not enough. That is why Thailand has set targets for both adaptation and mitigation. This year, we have launched our National Strategic Plan on Climate Change, covering all aspects of climate change policy formulation, including adaptation, mitigation of greenhouse gases, research and development, and implementation of the UNFCCC. We also look forward to cooperation through our recently-established Greenhouse Gas Management Organization. Already, various biomass and biogas Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects have been approved.
But while we are promoting new and renewable energy and energy efficiency, we also recognize that fossil fuels will remain dominant in the energy mix of developing countries in the next two decades. So, countries like Thailand need to obtain new technologies that will enable them to move from low-cost carbon technologies to more advanced and cleaner ones. Thailand, therefore, fully endorses the Sydney APEC Leaders’ Declaration on Climate Change, Energy Security and Clean Development that calls for the international community’s support for effective adaptation strategies, including through appropriate policy exchanges, finance, capacity building and technology transfer. We are seeking support for clean coal R&D and technology transfer. In addition, as a major rice producer, Thailand would like to call on rice growing nations as well as various international institutes to focus their R&D activities on methane capture technologies. This would help ensure the productivity and affordability of grains to feed the world’s growing population and reinforce global food security.
As we continue to develop our economy, Thailand is learning how to adapt and avoid the wasteful use of resources and energy before we fall into the path of unsustainability. I would like to reaffirm that Thailand stands ready to exchange best practices and consider new proposals for more integrated international cooperation on climate change. I thank you very much.