LOC20:02
17:02 GMT
UNITED NATIONS, July 20 (KUNA) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on
Wednesday said the Security Council bears a "unique responsibility" to
mobilize national and international action to confront the "very real threat"
of climate change to international peace and security.
Addressing a Council meeting on the Impact of Climate Change on Maintenance
of International Peace and Security, Ban said "we must make no mistake. The
facts are clear: climate change is real; it is accelerating in a dangerous
manner; and it not only exacerbates threats to international peace and
security, it is a threat to international peace and security".
He commended Germany, the Council President, for suggesting the "right
debate" about what can be done to "confront the double-barreled challenge of
climate change and international security," urging the Council to play a
"vital" role in making clear the link between climate change, peace and
security.
Extreme weather events, he argued, continue to grow more frequent and
intense in rich and poor countries alike, "not only devastating lives, but
also infrastructure, institutions, and budgets - an unholy brew which can
create dangerous security vacuums".
He noted that hundreds of millions of people around the world are in danger
of going short of food and water, "undermining the most essential foundations
of local, national, and global stability".
He indicated that competition between communities and countries for scarce
resources - especially water - is "increasing, exacerbating old security
dilemmas and creating new ones," with environmental refugees reshaping the
human geography of the planet.
This trend "will only increase as deserts advance, forests are felled, and
sea-levels rise," he warned, stressing that these are all threats to human
security, as well as to international peace and security.
He recalled that the international community has reached certain agreements
in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2009, and Cancun, Mexico, in 2010, in the context
of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
These agreements provide an "important, but incomplete, foundation for
action on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enabling all countries to
adapt," he noted.
"Now we need accelerated operationalization of all the agreements made at
Cancun, including on protecting forests, adaptation and technology," he urged.
He called for "ambitious" targets that ensure that any increase in global
average temperature remains below 2 degrees Centigrade.
He suggested that the UNFCCC, to be held in Durban, South Africa, this
December provide a "clear step forward on mitigation commitments and actions
by all parties, according to their responsibilities and capabilities".
He said a "political formula must be found without delay" to ensure that
existing commitments and needed future commitments and actions are not delayed
by "negotiating gamesmanship".
"We cannot ignore history. But we must clearly recognise that there can be
no spectators when it comes to securing the future of our planet," he
concluded. (end)
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