UN Security Council debates climate change for the first time
Tue 17 April 2007
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In another indication of the growing priority accorded by policy makers to the issue of climate change, the UN Security Council has held its first ever discussions on the subject. The UK Government, which proposed the debate and currently holds the Council presidency, said that climate change must be seen as a global security issue as well as an environmental concern.
The UK's position, which was introduced in a speech by the Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, drew support from some governments but others, including China and leading members of the G77 group of developing countries, disputed whether the Security Council was the right place for the UN to debate the issue.
The meeting aimed to examine the relationship between energy, security and climate, and featured interventions from more than 50 delegations. Many delegations called for the United Nations to urgently consider convening a global summit on the issue.
In her introductory speech Margaret Beckett said that recent scientific evidence reinforced, or even exceeded, the worst fears about climate change. She warned of migration on an unprecedented scale because of flooding, disease and famine. Mrs Beckett said that climate change was a security issue, but it was not a matter of narrow national security...it was about “our collective security in a fragile and increasingly interdependent world”.
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