UNGA president calls on Pacific nations to 'unify' to 'address challenges'

The UN General Assembly President Dennis Francis has urged Pacific nations to work together to tackle the challenges facing the region and the world.

Francis was speaking at a news conference on the margins of the opening day of the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in Rarotonga on Monday (Cook Islands time).

"We have to work together to unify our positions in order to address the challenges we face," he said.

"And right here in the Pacific, for islands that are small, under-resourced, remote, and highly vulnerable, the challenges are first and foremost climate change and sea-level rise.

"They are, to be clear, existential, threatening your homes, your homelands, your heritage, your culture, your livelihoods, and your communities."

The UNGA president said he refused top "to be a bystander to the disappearance and loss of such profound history and heritage" as well as the challenges faced by the people in the region "forced by necessity, to abandon their native homeland, rendered uninhabitable by rising sea-level".

He said the UNGA and the entire UN system needed to "act decisively" to help small islands, including through adaptation efforts and resilience building.

"It includes, for example, helping to ensure that resources are available to communities to respond quickly and flexibly to disasters and/or climate related events that destroy or damage sensitive and/or necessary infrastructure and facilities.

"It includes working to protect, for posterity, the rich and diverse tapestries of culture and heritage built by island communities over several generations.

"And it includes removing any doubt or uncertainty that exists, politically, about the statehood, sovereignty and accompanying rights, including the maritime zones, that impacted countries have, as well as about the long-term status of their membership of the United Nations," he added.