Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoANTIGUA / SIDS4 OPENING
STORY: ANTIGUA / SIDS4 OPENING
TRT: 03:24
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 25-27 MAY 2024, ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA
25 MAY 2024, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF ANTIGUA, ST JOHN’S, ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA
1. Wide shot, flag of Antigua and Barbuda, UN flag
27 MAY 2024, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF ANTIGUA, ST JOHN’S, ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA
2. Wide shot, UN Secretary-General António Guterres arriving with Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda
2. Wide shot, delegations walking towards plenary room
3. Wide shot, Plenary session of Fourth International Conference of Small Island Development States
4. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“I declare open the Fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States and call to order its first plenary meeting.”
5. Wide shot, podium
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Gaston Browne, Prime Minister, Antigua and Barbuda / President, SIDS4 Conference:
“This year has been the hottest in history in practically every corner of the globe, foretelling severe impacts in our ecosystems and starkly underscoring the urgency of our predicaments. To ignore this is to gamble with our collective future. Continuing with business as usual is not just negligence, it is an active choice that invites disaster.”
7. Various shots, cultural show
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Afioga Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa, Prime Minister, Samoa / Chair, Alliance of Small Island States:
“The seas rise. Our debts mushroom. Our people struggle. And we are told to keep hats to bear up.”
9. Wide shot, podium
10. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“SIDS are a test case for climate justice and financial justice. Let us see first, climate justice. The world is fast approaching the 1.5-degree limit that would avoid the worst impacts of global heating. Exceeding this limit could trigger multiple climate tipping points with abrupt, irreversible, and dangerous impacts for humanity – posing an existential threat to some SIDS. We cannot accept the disappearance of any country or culture under the rising waves.”
11. Med shot, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda speaking at podium
12. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“At times of crisis, it may be tempting to turn inward, to lower expectations, and to dim hopes. But that is not the SIDS way. Collaboration and mutual support and help have allowed SIDS to be acle to face the consequences of geopolitical storms and physical storms. And when you speak together, SIDS can make an almighty noise. And I urge you to do so at this critical time for our planet and our future.”
13. Wide shot, podium
Officially opening the Fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS4), today (27 May) in Antigua, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said SIDS are a test case for climate justice and financial justice.
He continued, “The world is fast approaching the 1.5-degree limit that would avoid the worst impacts of global heating. Exceeding this limit could trigger multiple climate tipping points with abrupt, irreversible, and dangerous impacts for humanity – posing an existential threat to some SIDS.”
He stated, “We cannot accept the disappearance of any country or culture under the rising waves.”
He concluded, “At times of crisis, it may be tempting to turn inward, to lower expectations, and to dim hopes. But that is not the SIDS way. Collaboration and mutual support and help have allowed SIDS to be acle to face the consequences of geopolitical storms and physical storms. And when you speak together, SIDS can make an almighty noise. And I urge you to do so at this critical time for our planet and our future.”
Also talking at the opening, Gaston Browne, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda and President of the SIDS4 Conference, said, “This year has been the hottest in history in practically every corner of the globe, foretelling severe impacts in our ecosystems and starkly underscoring the urgency of our predicaments. To ignore this is to gamble with our collective future. Continuing with business as usual is not just negligence, it is an active choice that invites disaster.”
Afioga Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa, Prime Minister of Samoa and Chair of the Alliance of Small Island States, said, “The seas rise. Our debts mushroom. Our people struggle. And we are told to keep hats to bear up.”
More than 20 world leaders and senior ministers from over 100 nations have gathered along with close to 4,000 other participants – together with representatives from the private sector, civil society, academia and youth – to tackle a raft of issues of existential importance to the 39 SIDS, under the theme Charting the course toward resilient prosperity.
The conference taking place at the American University of Antigua through Thursday already has a clear port of call – The Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS (ABAS), which sets out the sustainable development aspirations of vulnerable small islands over the next decade and the support required to get them into a safe harbour – well beyond the 2030 deadline of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Download
There is no media available to download.
Related Content
