(Seychelles News Agency) - The President of Seychelles has called on leaders and the world to pay attention and take action against climate change.

Danny Faure spoke at the official opening of the United Nations 2019 Climate Action Summit and at a high-level event for leaders. Faure told the summit and the panel discussion that the environment must be protected at all costs.

The Summit convened by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the United Nations Headquarters in New York is being held under the theme ‘Climate Action Summit 2019: A Race We Can Win.”

Addressing the Assembly, President Faure shared some of the key national efforts being undertaken by Seychelles in line with the National Determined Contributions (NDC) as well as other national resilience strategies contributing towards environment protection as a large ocean state.

“We have an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of 1.4 million square kilometers which is 3,000 times the size of our islands. The highlights of our revised NDC will, therefore, be a whole chapter dedicated to ocean climate action and blue carbon as nature-based solutions to climate change” added Faure.

According to Faure, Seychelles – 115 islands in the western of the Indian Ocean - already protects 26 percent of its EEZ, an area the size of Germany,  "and we will increase it to 30 percent next year, meeting the 30-by-30 target of protecting 30 percent of the ocean by 2030 a decade early."

President Faure also stressed and explained the projected transformational change expected in line with Seychelles’ renewables.

“Seychelles will aim for a transformational change from a target of 15% renewables by 2030 in its current NDC to a strategy for 100% in keeping with the IPPC’s Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius. We will build institutional capacity to achieve energy self-sufficiency and security through renewable energy, energy efficiency, and green transport,” said President Faure.

The chosen theme for the summit - 'A Race We Must Win’ - focused on mobilizing political and economic energy at the highest levels focused on the advancement of climate action. This will in return enable the further implementation of goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 

At the high-level event hosted by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) entitled “The Leaders’ Forum on a new deal for nature and people”, Faure urged the leaders from other developing to take notice of climate change.

“Take heed of the devastating impact being inflicted on the planet, and our role as guardians and the last generation that can take action. We have the responsibility, the means, and the power to choose the Planet Earth we will leave our children,” said the head of state.

Faure added: “I agreed to take part in this event in support of an Emergency Declaration for Nature and People in 2020 because I believe the environment needs to be protected at all costs.”

As the leader of a Small Island Developing States (SIDS), Faure also spoke on the real-life devastating impacts of climate change particularly its effects on SIDS.

“Seychelles agrees that 2020 provides a momentous opportunity for world leaders to take a series of global decisions on nature, the ocean and the climate that will set the direction for our planet’s future.”

“I call on all leaders to rally around this cause for nature and people, and believe in the power of our collective efforts to shape a future of which we can all be proud,” concluded Seychelles’ head of state.