SECURITY COUNCIL HOLDS FIRST-EVER DEBATE ON IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON PEACE, SECURITY, HEARING OVER 50 SPEAKERS

With scientists predicting that land and water resources will gradually become more scarce in the coming years, and that global warming may irreversibly alter the face of the planet, the United Nations Security Council today held its first-ever debate on the impact of climate change on security, as some delegates raised doubts over whether the Council was the proper forum to discuss the issue.

The day-long meeting, called by the United Kingdom, aimed to examine the relationship between energy, security and climate, and featured interventions from more than 50 delegations, representing imperilled island nations and industrialized greenhouse gas emitters alike.  While some speakers praised the initiative, there were reservations from developing countries, which saw climate change as a socio-economic development issue to be dealt with by the more widely representative General Assembly.  Many delegations also called for the United Nations to urgently consider convening a global summit on the issue.

read the full document on http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2007/sc9000.doc.htm

AS NATURE OF NEW THREATS EVOLVES, SECURITY COUNCIL, CENTRAL TO KEEPING PEACE, MUST ALSO KEEP PACE, SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS DURING COUNCIL DEBATE ON NEW CHALLENGES

Transnational crime, pandemics, and climate change were three defining challenges, and as the nature of such threats continued to evolve, the Security Council — so central to our ability to keep the peace — must also keep pace, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Council today as it addressed new challenges to international peace and security and conflict prevention.

He said that although none of the three were new, they were increasingly transnational, increasingly acute, and had ever greater implications for human, State, regional and international security.  There was an increasing convergence between organized crime and terrorist groups.  Climate change had aggravated conflict over scarce land and could well trigger large-scale migration.  Rising sea levels put at risk the very survival of small island States.

No country and no region, no matter how powerful, would be able to address those threats alone, he said.  The complex and multilayered threats required multidisciplinary responses.  The United Nations was well-placed to promote an integrated mix of political, developmental and capacity-building responses.

read the full document on http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2011/sc10457.doc.htm