By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, May 20 -- When Germany assumes the Presidency of the UN Security Council in July, it plans to devote its thematic debate to “the security implications of climate change.”
On Friday the German and Portuguese Missions to the UN held a panel discussion on the topic, during which the Foreign Minister of the Marshall Islands said that putting climate change on the Council's agenda wouldn't lead to “sending peacekeepers to close to coal mines.”
From the floor, the Permanent Representative of the Philippines said that too many issues were being sent to the Security Council: it is being “overloaded,” he said.
One proposal made was for the appointment of a Special Representative of the Secretary General on Climate and Security Response, to report to the Council every six months. But to what end, if the Council didn't then use its coercive powers on the issue, as it does on sanctions, travel bans and the authorization of force?
The Assistant Director General of FAO, Alexander Muller, said that the capital of Nigeria will grow by 400% by 2050. Belynda Petrie of OneWorld linked the xenophobic violence in South Africa to scarcity caused by climate change.
Madelena Lucas, an adviser to the Portuguese government, delated a quote that the fight for resources will shift from oil and gas to food and water. Afterward the Permanent Representative of Cape Verde said that for some small island states, history will end. One hopes not before July and the Security Council debate. Watch this site.
Footnote: a more lively UN event was found across First Avenue in the North Lawn building, where Maori from New Zealand offered greetings with spears and a conch shell. The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, from which some indigenous representatives have been blocked at governments' requests, soldiers on. More to follow.
