Development
Climate change at UNGA 81
Raised by 151 of 223 speakers. Read verbatim UN transcript quotes and select a time to hear the speech.
Speeches that raised climate change
Nepal · Day 3Balendra ShahMr. President, Mr. Secretary General, Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, I come before you from Nepal, a distant country in the Himalayas, carrying a close warning for humanity.
I wish I could stand here today simply to talk about development, democracy, peace, and the hopes of a young nation.
Instead, I must speak about death and destruction of epic proportion, about families waiting for loved ones who will never come home, about communities searching through the mud, rocks, water for the people who are lost, may never be recovered, about bridges, about roads, schools, homes, livelihood, swept away in minutes, about a country whose steady progress to achieve sustainable development goals has been interrupted.
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Netherlands (Kingdom of the) · Day 3Rob JettenAnd it is also time for us to press forward together and tackle that other great challenge of our time, climate change.
Nowhere on Earth is the planet warming faster than in Western Europe.
But in the Caribbean part of our kingdom, including the countries of Aruba, Curacao, and Sint Maarten, the effects of climate change have already been felt for much longer.
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Fiji · Day 3Ratu Naiqama Tawakecolati LalabalavuAnd it speaks directly to the condition of our world.
We face deepening geopolitical rivalry, armed conflict, and climate and environmental crisis, economic uncertainty, disrupted supply chains and rapid technological change, and an information environment corroded by disinformation.
These crises do not remain where they begin.
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Barbados · Day 3Mia Amor MottleyEver before to prevent conflict and to facilitate dialogue.
The climate crisis is accelerating.
Even though the science is clear enough for us to act, and many of the solutions are already known.
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Somalia · Day 3Hassan Sheikh MohamudConflicts between and within the states are increasing.
Humanitarian needs are rising, while the resources available to meet them are rapidly declining.
Nationalism, intolerance, and political polarization are weakening the spirit of international cooperation.
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Bolivia (Plurinational State of) · Day 3Rodrigo Paz PereiraWe want to do that while also preserving something that no economic growth can replace, and that is its people, its territory, and its extraordinary biological diversity.
Ladies and gentlemen, Bolivia has one specific feature, which is also perhaps an opportunity.
We are a country with a small population but with diversity, the Andes, the Altiplano, the Amazon.
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European Union · Day 3António CostaMr. President of the General Assembly, Secretary-General, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, multilateralism is not an ideal of the past.
It is the only realistic way to address the problems of today.
Alone, no country can prevent a pandemic, stabilize the climate, secure resilient supply chains, regulate artificial intelligence, ensure financial stability, or deliver sustainable development.
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Côte d’Ivoire · Day 3Tiémoko Meyliet KonéAt the same time, climate upheavals are hitting our countries hard, not to mention the humanitarian crises and deep inequalities that are weakening our societies.
Added to this are the very real risks to the survival of humanity posed by the uncontrolled development of artificial intelligence.
The world is thus at a difficult turning point.
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Nigeria · Day 3Kashim ShettimaWe inhabit the only planet known to sustain human life, and as long as that scientific fact holds, we cannot pretend that we are insulated from conflicts elsewhere, geography offers no exemption from the consequences of a fractured world.
Mr. President, we reject the false choice between development and climate action.
Developing countries must industrialize, eradicate poverty, and expand energy access through low carbon pathways supported by technology transfer, capacity building, and climate finance.
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Bangladesh · Day 3Tarique RahmanFor a lasting solution to this crisis, Bangladesh expects firm and effective support from the United Nations and the international community.
At the same time, I call upon the United Nations and the international community to continue life-saving assistance programs for the displaced Rohingya people until they can be repatriated to their own country, Myanmar.
If the international community fails to ensure justice for the displaced Rohingya people, this could turn into a humanitarian crisis in the near future.
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Ghana · Day 3John Dramani MahamaAcross every conflict, whether in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the standard must remain uniform, respect for sovereign integrity, protect civilians, ensure unhindered humanitarian access, and hold perpetrators of war crimes accountable.
Mr. President, those who have declared climate change a hoax perpetrated by geopolitical opponents, the warnings of recent times cannot have been clearer.
Melting glaciers, Flash flooding, droughts, record-breaking heat waves, brush fires, hurricanes, and other extreme weather phenomena are unmistakable signs of an overburdened planet.
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Hungary · Day 3András Bálint BakaDrought can destroy crops, threaten food and energy supplies, and take away people's income.
Climate change is making these pressures greater.
Rivers also cross borders.
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Gambia (Republic of The) · Day 3Mohammed JallowSecurity measures are necessary, but they must be accompanied by increased support for democratic governance institution building, education, job creation, development, and climate resilience.
Mr. President, for millions of people around the world, poverty, lack of human rights, democratic governance, et cetera, continue to pose greater insecurity.
The absence of education, healthcare, decent employment, and the loss of homes and livelihoods to climate change leave communities as vulnerable as conflict itself.
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Portugal · Day 3Luís MontenegroIt is my belief that it would also be beneficial to discuss the mechanism by which international oil prices are determined.
I do not have a concrete solution.
which is very complex and difficult, but I wonder if it makes sense for all of us to be so dependent on speculation and the volatility of financial and futures markets, which affect the entire production sector, even when the instability originates only from a portion or a limited period of that production.
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Thailand · Day 3Anutin CharnvirakulStrategic competition is becoming sharper.
And international rules are under strain.
At the same time, technology is transforming our societies, while climate change is testing our resilience.
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Australia · Day 3Anthony AlbaneseNew issues are becoming international issues, demanding our full attention.
Climate change, where the science foretold of the increase in frequency and intensity of extreme weather events that we are now experiencing.
emerging technology, including artificial intelligence, which is evolving at a furious pace, and the breakdown of trust, civility, and social cohesion, which is promoting conflict within and between countries.
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Ireland · Day 3Micheál MartinPresident of the General Assembly, distinguished heads of state and government, Secretary-General, Excellencies, H.E., friends, the United Nations is entering its ninth decade at a moment of great uncertainty and challenge for the global community.
Conflicts are having devastating effects on the most vulnerable.
The impacts of the climate crisis are felt in every corner of our world.
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Zimbabwe · Day 3Emmerson Dambudzo MnangagwaConflicts are spreading, climate shocks are intensifying, and technology is advancing faster than the rules that govern it.
As the current crop of leaders, it should concern us that today, somewhere, a child is born into war, a family is displaced by conflict, a farmer loses another harvest to drought, and a young person wonders whether technological progress will expand opportunity or deepen inequality.
Through separated by geography, those separate by geography, these experiences reveal a common truth.
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Madagascar · Day 3Michaël RandrianirinaMr. President, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, in this regard, the realities on the ground in my country speak for themselves.
In southern Madagascar, mothers walk dozens of kilometers under scorching heat in search of water from the bed of a dried up river.
In the east, every year increasingly violent and destructive tropical cyclones devastate crops, infrastructure, and human lives.
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Comoros · Day 3Azali AssoumaniThe international community will regain its credibility first by taking urgent action to silence the guns, to protect civilian lives, whether Israeli, Palestinian, Lebanese, or Syrian, and ultimately implementing United Nations resolutions, including the two-state solution with Israel and Palestine coexisting peacefully.
This is a prerequisite for addressing climate change.
The risks of artificial intelligence and the imperative of sustainable development.
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Equatorial Guinea · Day 3Teodoro Nguema Obiang MangueHowever, as we approach its end date, we are far from meeting its goals.
Poverty persists, inequality is expanding, and climate change continues to rage.
It is clear that we need an international financial architecture that facilitates productive investments, that takes into account the real vulnerabilities of developing countries, and supports the efforts of each nation.
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Senegal · Day 3Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar FayeThe climate urgency has become an even more bitter reality.
The human, economic, and social cost of these phenomenon continue to grow.
There are many environmental perils facing our age.
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Armenia · Day 3Nikol PashinyanThe Republic of Armenia considers its contribution to the region's stability and development to be our key task in international peace, stability, and development.
Honorable President of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly, Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen, this October, Armenia will host the 17th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, the COP 17, and I invite you all to participate in this very important event for Armenia and for the international biodiversity agenda.
Dear ladies and gentlemen, This is what I wanted to share with you in my speech today.
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Greece · Day 3Kyriakos MitsotakisFor the first time, for the first time in the history of our species, we have created a technology that openly challenges the supremacy of the human mind as the pinnacle of our evolutionary development.
I will not dwell on the positive transformational potential of this revolutionary technology.
whether in disease eradication, productivity enhancement, or fighting climate change.
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South Africa · Day 3Ronald Ozzy LamolaAfrica and much of the global south need multilateral actions to free resources absorbed by debt services and redirect them towards development.
We must close the financing gap for the 2030 agenda and meaningful advance implementation of the Africa's Union Agenda 2063.
In November 2025, South Africa classified gender-based violence and femicide as a national disaster, recognizing that dealing with this scourge demands exceptional measures from our population and will require international partners to continue to fight this through technology and other means that must support our measures to fight gender-based violence in our country.
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