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5th Anniversary of the Protection Agenda, Sendai Framework and Paris Agreement
4 MINUTE READ
February 4, 2021

Statement by Mark Cassayre
Chargé d’Affaires
U.S. Mission to the United Nations in Geneva

At the 5th Anniversary Commemoration of the Protection Agenda, Sendai Framework & Paris Agreement ​

Merci Francois.  Je tiens à remercier la France et le Fiji de nous avoir réunis aujourd’hui.  Je suis très reconnaissant de l’opportunité de prendre la parole.

We welcome this timely opportunity to commemorate the Nansen Initiative, Sendai Framework, and the Paris Agreement and take stock of how we, as an international community, can improve the protection of disaster displaced persons around the world.

Peoples’ decisions to migrate are multi-faceted, involving political, social, and economic drivers.

As such, this past week, President Biden has committed to humanely managing migration in North and Central America and working with regional partners to address the root causes of migration.

Yet, it is undeniable that the climate crisis has increased the scale and scope of natural disasters and economic hardships, influencing irregular migration, and sometimes dangerous displacement.

As it relates to our conversation today, there is no greater long-term challenge confronting the world than climate change.

President Biden has launched an ambitious agenda to follow through on his promise to take swift and bold actions to address the climate crisis, building on his decision to rejoin the Paris Agreement.

As Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, former Secretary of State John Kerry will lead our diplomatic efforts to reassert U.S. climate leadership, and raise global ambition to meet this challenge.

The United States will also work to help vulnerable countries increase resilience and adapt to the devastating impacts of climate change.

To that end, we will work with bilateral and multilateral institutions to improve the quality of resilience programing and will continue making progress on our commitments to the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

We will leverage U.S. innovation and climate data and information to promote data sharing and a better understanding and management of climate risk.

We will prioritize financing adaptation and resilience initiatives.

And we will work with the private sector in the United States, and around the world, to promote greater collaboration between businesses and the communities on which they depend.

Special Presidential Envoy Kerry has also announced that the United States will begin work immediately to develop the U.S. emissions target (nationally determined contribution), as well as host a Leaders’ Climate Summit in April.

The United States looks forward to working with all of you to ensure we lose no more time in 2021.

Thank you.