General Speeches

Good Morning, delegates of the General Assembly of the Coalition of Crown Albatross. My name is Bartholomew Rainier, I represent Zamastan on the floor today. We are here today, in another Coalition General Assembly conference, such as the one that created our unprecedented international organization weeks ago.

We hope that the present delegations will engage only to fruitful debates, in order to make this conference productive and relevant. Let’s all take wise decisions after considering every resolution. Bear in mind that the Coalition of Crown Albatross was created to make a better world and not to satisfy an individual will.

We must cast our eyes to the future with hope. But we must also do so without illusion. Today I want to speak to you in stark and simple terms about the challenges we face. I see “four horsemen” in our midst — four looming threats that endanger 21st-century progress and imperil 21st-century possibilities. The first horseman comes in the form of the highest global geostrategic tensions we have witnessed in years.

As last month, Zamastan presided over a treaty decision that ended a war before it began, we still remain in the state of concern that the Drambenburgian government will betray their commitment to the agreements set forth in the Tofino Conference with the Avergnonian government. Oberkanzlerin Walde Herzog and Archon of Avergnon, Franz Selleaux, agreed to their mutual disarmament of troop movements along their border. Zamastanian interest in the region are high, and we want to avoid conflict at all costs for the betterment of many interests. Economically, the border sits at a convergence of three nations, ours included. Trade must continue to flow freely in order to keep a stable global economy, and disruption through conflict would be disastrous for the world over.

However the possible conflict's main affects would be levered to the civilian populations of the region. A combined 310 people live in Avergnon and Drambenburg, with 38 million Zamastanians residing within 100 miles of the disputed border. Imagine, delegates, the possibility of slaughter of hundreds of thousands and possibly millions of people along this vital corridor of world civilization.

Devastating conflicts continue to cause widespread misery. Terrorist attacks take a merciless toll. The nuclear menace is growing. More people have been forced from their homes by war and persecution than at any time since the Gladysynthian Civil War and the Vulkarian Wars. Tensions over trade and technology remain unresolved. The risk of a Great Fracture is real.

Second, we face an existential climate crisis. Rising temperatures continue to melt records. The past decade was the hottest on record. Scientists tell us that ocean temperatures are now rising at the equivalent of five Iskarim bombs a second. One million species are in near-term danger of extinction. Our planet is burning. Meanwhile, as we saw at the Emerald Climate Summit, too many decision-makers continue to fiddle. Our world is edging closer to the point of no return.

The third horseman is deep and growing global mistrust. Disquiet and discontent are churning societies from north to south. Each situation is unique, but everywhere frustration is filling the streets. More and more people are convinced globalization is not working for them. As one of our own reports revealed just yesterday, two of every three people live in countries where inequality has grown.

Confidence in political establishments is going down. Young people are rising up. Women are rightly demanding equality and freedom from violence and discrimination. At the same time, fears and anxieties are spreading. Hostility against refugees and migrants is building. Hatred is growing.

The fourth threat is the dark side of the digital world. Technological advances are moving faster than our ability to respond to – or even comprehend – them. Despite enormous benefits, new technologies are being abused to commit crimes, incite hate, fake information, oppress and exploit people and invade privacy. We are not prepared for the profound impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution on the labor market and the very structure of society. Artificial intelligence is generating breathtaking capacities and alarming possibilities. Lethal autonomous weapons — machines with the power to kill on their own, without human judgement and accountability — are bringing us into unacceptable moral and political territory.

These four horsemen – epic geopolitical tensions, the climate crisis, global mistrust and the downsides of technology – can jeopardize every aspect of our shared future. That is why commemorating the opening of the Coalition of Crown Albatross with nice speeches won’t do. We must address these four 21st-century challenges with four 21st-century solutions. Let me take each in turn.

First, peace and security, that I mentioned. There are some signs of hope. The war in Vulkaria has ended, and the Malvarian Liberation Front has been defeated. The Adenovirus-14 outbreak has ceased. Our Action for Peacekeeping initiative is enhancing performance and safety. We are becoming more effective in the protection of civilians, and we have more female peacekeepers than ever before.

But temporary relief is no substitute for permanent solutions. Prevention must orient all we do as we engage across the world's continuum. We must strengthen our mediation capacity and our tools for sustaining peace, leading to long-term development.

The second “horseman” is the threat of climate catastrophe. We must respond with the promise of climate action. We are at war with nature. And nature is fighting back hard. One cannot look at the recent fires in Southern Zamastan and the floods along the rivers in Cadair – at people fleeing their homes and wildlife consumed by the flames, homes washed away in waves of muddy debris filled water – without profound sadness at today’s plight and fear for what the future may bring.

Meanwhile, air pollution combined with climate change is killing, according to the the C.C.A. Health Ministry, 7 million people every year. Gradual approaches are no longer enough. Governments must deliver the transformational change our world needs and that people demand, with much stronger ambition – ambition on mitigation, ambition on adaptation, and ambition on finance. Every city, region, bank, pension fund and industry must completely reimagine how they operate to keep temperature rise to 1.5 degrees.

But I still believe the climate battle is a battle we can win. People get it. Technology is on our side. Scientists tell us it is not too late. Economists and asset managers tell us climate smart investments are the key to competing and winning in the 21st century. All the tools and knowledge to move from the grey economy to the green economy are already available. So let us embrace transformation, delegates of the General Assembly.

So let us make the 2020s the Decade of Action and let us make 2020 the year of urgency. And, as we do so, let us spare no effort to rebuild trust. I make a special appeal to all Member States: Listen to people. Open new channels for all to be heard and find common ground. Respect freedom of peaceful assembly and expression. Protect civic space and freedom of the press. And let us harness the ideas and energy and sense of hope of young people —in particular young women — demanding change and constructive solutions.

And we must put a special focus on women and girls because it benefits us all. It’s time to drive women’s equal participation in decision-making and end all forms of violence against women and girls. We must dismantle obstacles to women’s inclusion and participation in the economy, including through valuing unpaid care work. And we must listen and learn from so many women around the world who have been driving solutions.

Let's unlock financing. Let's generate the ambition, innovation and solutions to deliver for everyone, everywhere. We must improve governance, tackle illicit financial flows, stamp out corruption and develop effective, common sense and fair taxation systems. We must build economies for the future and ensure decent work for all, especially young people.

We can make the world a better place for everyone, delegates of the General Assembly. That's what we're here for.

Thank you.