 Honourable Minister of Water and the Environment, Sam Jantoris, all participants here in your various capacities, all the protocol observed. It's more a pleasure to welcome you to Oscult, the small home of Wakers, Agarwal ish and CBA Conference. For those of you who don't speak Irish, I was saying it's a great pleasure for me to be with you all here this morning and to be at the opening of the CBA Conference. Now I want to thank those who have been organising it for the great work done. This is an important conference which tackles the most fundamental challenge facing all of the nations on earth at present, namely that of achieving the change in policies, structures and indeed behaviours that will enable us to address climate change, protect our environment and pursue global development for all humanity. May I thank the Government of Uganda and the organisers of the CBA Conference for hosting this event here in beautiful Kampala. It's just a shame as the President of Uganda said in the Solidarity Summit on Friday that with the nice air blowing around Kampala that we have air conditioning but I think the windows might be a bit small to let it in. But I do encourage you to make the most of those who are visiting Kampala to walk around and savor the beautiful environment that we have in this country, in this city. This is the 11th CBA Conference and the determination to galvanise global attention on the crucial significance of climate adaptation at the local level is a major contribution to achieve sustainable development for the most vulnerable people and ecosystems on our planet. The role of Dr Suley Moonhawk in initiating and guiding these conferences is very much appreciated. Thank you Dr Suley. The timing of today's conference is also very appropriate. At the beginning of last year we were all celebrating the Paris Agreement which was adopted by 195 countries around the world. It will be remembered that the Paris Agreement brought us together in very challenging times. It demonstrates along with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development our collective responsibility, each of us doing all that we can within our limits of our capacity to protect the environment required to sustain life and in particular to adapt to the impacts of climate change on the most vulnerable populations in our communities. We are now in 2017 entering another crucial and perhaps more difficult phase, that of implementation, that of action. How can we keep the momentum going? How do we retain the public interest in these issues? Can we keep up the tempo of diplomatic activity and exchange of information? How can the resources that are required get to where they are needed most? And how do we in short move from words and promises to actual change? Dear friends, the scale of the change required both in policy and in mindset may cause many to feel overwhelmed and sometimes a little powerless. The Paris Agreement is global in its reach and in its implications, leaving us with a challenge of delivering a global consciousness and globally responsible actions. Some of us have suggested renegotiating the Paris Agreement. Let me assure that the European Union, of which Ireland is a strong member, has made it very clear that we will fully implement the Paris Agreement. The EU deeply regrets the unilateral decision by the United States Administration to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. And we reaffirm that the Paris Agreement is fit for purpose and cannot be renegotiated. The agreement is ambitious yet not prescriptive and allows each party to forge its own path in contributing to the goals that serve to combat climate change, which threatens development, threatens peace and stability all around this world. Uganda is showing its commitment to securing a prosperous future for its people by implementing the Paris Agreement and working to achieve its nationally determined contribution to the NDC. Thank you Uganda for your strong leadership and this. We welcome the Ministry of Finance Directive for all sectors here in Uganda to incorporate climate change in their planning, in their budgeting, in their reporting processes. Uganda is among the first countries in the NDC partnership and has recently launched the National Adaptation Plan process. We must all learn from that leadership that Uganda is showing. Ireland, for its part, is committed to working with our partners to implement the Paris Agreement. We've increased our support for developing countries tackling climate change to more than 36 million euros in climate financing this year. Ireland is on track to meet its commitment made at COP21 in Paris to scale up climate financing by providing a cumulative total of at least 175 million euros in public funding by 2020. We expect to surpass our target. Here in Uganda, Ireland has taken up the climate friendly carbon neutral initiative to reduce our carbon footprint. We're one of the first embassies to be declared carbon neutral. The Embassy of Ireland, thank you. The Embassy of Ireland heads the Karamoja Development Partners Group and given the region of Karamoja's vulnerability to climate change, we're increasing climate risk management in all of our programmes. We must think globally, but we must act locally. The Community-Based Adaptation Conference, which this year includes the regional NAB Expo, shows us that adaptation has to be about adapting people's livelihoods, protecting our communities and the ecosystems we need to sustain life, to sustain well-being. We have a historic opportunity in front of us to lay the foundations of a new model for human flourishing and for social harmony, one that has shared between all those who dwell on this little planet and one that has shared too, between this generation and those who have yet to come. Let us commit today then to make this promise thrive and bloom. I wish all of you a successful 11th Community-Based Adaptation Conference. We're with Mila Mahbib, Bolaire, thank you very much. Thank you.