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) sj.mt KUNA 202002 Jul 11NNNN