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Russia on Monday blocked a draft resolution by the United Nations Security Council that had been negotiated for months for the first time, which would describe climate change as a threat to peace.
The widely supported resolution would significantly expand the criteria the most powerful UN agency used to justify it. To intervene in armed conflicts around the world.
Russia’s derailment underlined the challenges the United Nations faces in uniting the global community in the fight against climate change, which Secretary-General António Guterres and others have termed an existential threat.
Despite the progress made in the fight against greenhouse gas emissions, agreed upon At the UN-sponsored climate summit in Glasgow last month, that agreement fell far short of what many scientists said would be necessary to curb rising temperatures and catastrophic changes in weather patterns from a warming planet. The agreement, among other weaknesses, left it unclear how the most vulnerable nations could afford the massive investment needed to adapt.
The possible role of climate change in armed conflict has long been the subject of debate at the United Nations and elsewhere. For example, drought and desertification aggravated by climate change in Mali, Niger and other parts of Africa are considered to be an integral part of competition for water, food, farmland and pasture land, which can lead to violence and instability.
The draft Security Council resolution, which was jointly supported by Ireland and Niger, the current chairman of the council, was a version of what was first proposed in 2020. Germany but never voted.
The Ireland-Niger draft would have compelled the 15-member body to include climate change as a factor related to “any root cause of conflict or risk multipliers”. He could also ask the secretary-general to produce regular reports on how to address the risks from climate change in conflict prevention.
In the 15-member council, 12 voted in favor of the resolution, Russia and India opposed, and China abstained. The negative vote blocked the passage, as Russia is one of the five permanent members of the council with veto power.
Vassily A. Nebenzia, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, said that he saw the decision as an excuse for wealthy Western powers to justify meddling in the internal affairs of other countries. “Positioning climate change as a threat to international security distracts the council’s attention from the real, rooted causes of conflict in countries on the council’s agenda,” Nebenzia said.
Reinforcing his statement on the website, Russia’s UN Mission He criticized the decision as “a proposal to make this automatic connection while neglecting all other aspects of situations in countries in conflict or countries that are lagging behind in their socio-economic development”.
Both Mr Nebenzia and India’s ambassador TS Tirumurti said any climate issue is best left to the government. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the body responsible for tackling the global threat posed by warming temperatures.
Mr. Tirumurti He claimed India is “unrivaled when it comes to climate action and climate justice, but the Security Council is not the place to discuss either issue,” he said.
Russia’s veto has vetoed for the first time any resolution put to a vote at the council, the only body in the United Nations with the power to impose sanctions and order the use of armed force when necessary.
Russia has been the most prolific user of the Security Council’s veto power in recent years to thwart what Western powers perceive as manipulative to intervene in other countries’ internal disputes. The change began after 2011, when Russia abstained in a Security Council vote on a resolution authorizing the use of force in the Libyan conflict, which Russia said was later heavily abused by the West.
UN diplomats said at least 113 of the global organization’s 193 members supported the resolution, putting Russia in a position to block what could have been a relatively popular decision.
The American ambassador, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, attacked Russia’s veto. aforementioned “it has prevented the world’s most important body to maintain international peace and security from taking any small, practical and necessary step to combat the effects of climate change”.
Irish Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason, told reporters after the vote, which both Ireland and Niger were “extremely disappointed”.
“We know very well that this decision will be a historic and important step for the council at a critical time,” he said.
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