A resident holding a child passes through the wreckage of damaged houses after Hurricane Iota hit Colombia’s Providencia Island on Saturday, November 21, 2020.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Climate change represents the “most serious threats” to global peace and security, the UN Security Council will hear on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson must warn the UN Security Council that unless the global community takes “urgent action to tackle climate change, the world is at risk of aggravating conflict, displacement and insecurity,” he said. the government in a statement.
The United Kingdom currently holds a one-month presidency of the Council, which is responsible for ensuring international peace and security. Your the permanent members are China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the USA. Johnson will address the group at 1:30 pm London time.
Prior to the session, Johnson said the Council “has the task of addressing the most serious threats to global peace and security, and that is exactly what climate change represents … From communities uprooted by extreme weather and hunger, to you. of war capitalizing on the struggle for resources – a warming planet is generating insecurity. “
He added that “unlike many issues the Council deals with, this is one that we know exactly how to address” and that by helping vulnerable countries adapt to climate change and reducing global emissions to zero, ” we will protect not only the abundant biodiversity of our planet, but its prosperity and security. “
Well-known TV naturalist and personality David Attenborough will also speak at the Council on Tuesday. He said in a statement released late on Monday that “if we reduce emissions with sufficient vigor, we can still avoid the tipping points that will make climate change uncontrollable.”
He said the next UN meeting on climate change, known as COP26, to be held in Glasgow in November, could be the “last chance to make the necessary change”.
“If we objectively view climate change and the loss of nature as threats to world security – as they really are – then we can still act proportionately and in time,” he said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Sudanese climate activist Nisreen Elsaim will also report to the Security Council live on Tuesday.
In summary before the session, the United Kingdom noted that “the impacts of climate change are already being felt worldwide, with the effects of rising temperatures and extreme weather conditions forcing population movements and creating competition for increasingly scarce natural resources. . Of the 20 classified countries most vulnerable to rising global temperatures, 12 are already in conflict. “
For its part, the UK has committed itself by law to achieving zero net emissions by 2050 and has pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 68% by 2030 – the sharpest reduction in any major economy.
Along with the permanent members of the UN Security Council, there are 10 non-permanent members elected for two-year terms. These members are currently Estonia, India, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico, Niger, Norway, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Tunisia and Vietnam.
Global efforts to tackle climate change are high on the international community’s agenda, although environmental experts fear that too little is being done to tackle the problem.
The USA is the world’s second largest emitter of greenhouse gases, behind China. Under the administration of President Joe Biden, the country has officially re-joined the Paris climate agreement, a historic pact between nations to reduce carbon emissions, having departed under former President Donald Trump.