New Delhi: With an estimated 3.5 billion people living in “climate hot spots”, related peace and security risks are only set to heighten, UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix said the Security Council and warned that action must be taken to avert ever-worsening effects.
“Given the growing linkages of climate change, peace, and security as well as the broader changes to the conflict dynamics in the areas in which we work, we must continue to adapt,” he said.
He noted that the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment report, showed that climatic and such risks as biodiversity loss and violent conflict will increasingly interact.
At the Security Council’s second formal meeting of 2023 to debate this trend, more than 70 speakers, including former Colombian President and Nobel Prize laureate Juan Manuel Santos, exchanged views on connections between climate change and worsening security.
Providing an overview of current efforts, Mr. Lacroix said that within the past several years, most UN peace operations have faced greater dangers and political challenges.
Of the 16 countries that are the most climate vulnerable, nine of them host a UN field mission: Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Mali, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, and Yemen, he said, emphasizing that the majority of UN peace operations are deployed in contexts that are both highly climate exposed and characterized by high levels of gender inequality.
While UN field missions do not hold the “ultimate solution” to climate change, they are “profoundly” affected by its impact, he said.
“Our missions witness first-hand the dual vulnerabilities posed by climate change and insecurity,” he said, offering several examples, from Mali to South Sudan.
As such, priority areas for action in UN field missions include investing in capacities to anticipate and address climate and security linkages, reinforcing the mutual benefits of climate action and making environments safer, and making sure the missions do not become part of the problem, he said.
“Guided by the Environmental Strategy for Peace Operations, the UN is progressively introducing renewable energy solutions, reducing our environmental footprint while also minimizing the security risk for fuel convoys,” he said.
Former Colombian President and Nobel Prize laureate Juan Manuel Santos called on the Security Council to do more.
“We are at a moment in history where the world is at risk of dividing into blocs which compete for power and supremacy over each other, rather than cooperating to address the unprecedented challenges and existential threats that we all face,” he said.
Despite the desire by some members of the Council to treat climate change and security as separate issues, in the real world the consequences of climate change and conflict very clearly converge, he said.
