Protecting the human right to a safe climate.

In June, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a resolution calling on UN bodies to increase their efforts in the fight against climate change.  Significantly, the UNGA asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to prepare a report on the implications of climate change for international peace and security.  When it meets in September, the UNGA will consider this report, and what it means for the work of the UN body tasked with protecting the peace—the Security Council.  

This debate could open an important new front in the global effort to address climate change.  With assistance from CLPP, the Republic of Seychelles submitted a position paper on this important issue to the office of the Secretary General. The submission concludes that “climate change poses a clear and present danger to our world and that present and future impacts of climate change constitute a threat to international peace and security.” This threat demands the response of every relevant UN body, including the Security Council.  (Read the full submission HERE)

Key messages

The effects of climate change, including sea level rise, Arctic sea ice loss and extreme climatic events, are appearing more rapidly and more severely than scientists had projected even a few years ago. At the same time, we are learning that human societies and ecosystems are vulnerable to even modest levels of climate change, with poor nations and communities especially at risk.

As tropical cyclones, droughts, heat waves and floods become more intense, they will have profound impacts on human settlements. Among other impacts, climate change will:

· reduce the availability of fresh water across large parts of the world, with impacts on billions of people ;

· expose tens of millions of people to catastrophic flooding from heightened storm surges;

· reduce food security and increase the risk of global food supply shocks;

· force untold millions of people to abandon their homes, villages and even entire countries;

· threaten the very existence of many small island developing states (SIDS); and

· undermine the fundamental human rights to life, water, food and property, among others.

In Seychelles, where 85% of the country lives near the coast, rising sea levels and growing storm surges will affect the entire population. Low-lying islands and cays will disappear completely. Vital coastal farm lands will be submerged. Saltwater intrusion will contaminate water sources. Changes in rainfall patterns will further threaten the river flows and groundwater that are essential to the country’s water supply. And warming seas will threaten the fisheries, coral reefs and tourism industries that are vital to the national economy.

Climate change poses a threat to international peace and security

These and other impacts of climate change will lead to economic destabilization, social unrest, resource competition, and massive refugee flows that are root causes of conflict both within and among nations. As a result, senior military leaders have dubbed climate change a “threat multiplier” that will have a significant negative impact on international peace and security.

For small island states like the Seychelles, these implications of climate change are more than an economic or political concern, but a matter of national survival. As the ambassador of Papua New Guinea told the UN on behalf of a group of Pacific island nations:

“The dangers that small islands and their populations face are no less serious than those faced by nations and peoples threatened by guns and bombs. The effects on our populations are as likely to cause massive dislocations of people as past and present wars.”

A role for the Security Council

Under the United Nations Charter, the UN Security Council is responsible for identifying potential threats to peace, and for taking any steps necessary to “safeguard international peace and security.” It has exercised this power many times in the past when the situation in a country lead to economic chaos, large flows of refugees and human rights violations that could threaten international peace and stability. Climate change will give rise to many such situations, giving the Security Council both a mandate and a responsibility to take responsive actions, and mitigate the security risks posed by global climate change.