Remarks by H.E. Mr. Abdulla Shahid, President of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly
22 April 2022
Excellencies,
Dear friends,
I am truly honoured to address this gathering of the 59th Venice Biennale.
The Venice Biennale is to the world of art and culture, what the United Nations General Assembly is to world leaders and their representatives: the place where we come together, to unite, to learn from one another, and to create partnerships for action.
When I was campaigning to be the President of the General Assembly, ¡®Hope¡¯ stood out for me, as a defining theme, a rallying call, for a world faced with a myriad of challenges.
Today¡¯s ¡®Hope Forum¡¯ builds on this theme and my vision, for which I am deeply grateful.
Excellencies, dear friends,
The heavy toll of climate change is often told in numbers. But there is often a deep personal and historical connection ¨C one that elicits deep and distinct emotion in each of us.
I know this from my own personal experience, coming from the low-lying islands of the Maldives.
When homes, lands, and forests are lost to bushfires, sea level rise, floods, and hurricanes, it is not just climate change¡ it is a loss of security and stability, a loss of personal identity,, memories, and ancestral connections.
When food and water become even more scarce, as droughts make farmlands barren and water wells dry, it is not just climate change¡. it is a loss of sustenance, health, financial stability, development, and peace.
Climate change is never just climate change, it is an all-encompassing existential threat.
Yet, I remain hopeful; hopeful for the 8 billion constituents that we represent; hopeful against cynicism that discourages action.
Excellencies, dear friends,
By bringing together multilateral agencies, artists and cultural practitioners, private sector art patrons, philanthropists and foundations, and civil society for urgent action, today¡¯s convening paints a bright and hopeful future.
Achieving our climate goals requires this strengthened coalition and coordination across all sectors- this partnership among all.
Today¡¯s convening allows us to celebrate and build upon recent developments including those on ¡®phasing down¡¯ fossil fuels, on halting and reversing deforestation, and on negotiations to end plastic pollution.
But hope goes beyond the art of diplomacy and multilateralism.
The art world can, and should, play a pivotal part in restoring the balance of our relationship with nature.
Art possesses a unique transformational power of communicating global issues to the general public in a manner that is culturally rooted and elicits change that is unique but potent at the same time.
As such, artists have a responsibility for using the work for a greater purpose.
We must value and protect art and culture as repositories of knowledge and experience, especially as our world grapples with unprecedented health and climate crises.
Excellencies and friends,
This Hope Forum can build momentum ahead of the high-level meeting on a ¡®Moment for Nature¡¯, which I will convene on July 19. That meeting aims to galvanize urgent global commitments and actions to keep the 1.5 degree target alive.
I look forward to your message of hope at this high-level debate; I hope you will join me and raise your voices once again to deliver the power of art towards a sustainable future for all.
I thank you.