Is the United Nations Security Council an appropriate forum to
discuss climate change?
No, said many countries including Russia and China, as officials
and analysts raise doubts over whether the 15-member body can serve
as the right venue to discuss the issue.
When the Security Council held its first-ever open debate on
global warming on Tuesday, the voices of dissent were loud
clear.
They - including Pakistan on behalf of the Group of 77, a
coalition of developing countries - warned at the one-day meeting
that the council, whose mandate is only global peace and security,
cannot take concrete action on climate change.
Their main argument against the debate is that the council was
encroaching on more representative bodies, such as the 192-member
UN General Assembly.
Liu Zhenmin, China's deputy permanent representative to the UN,
said climate change is, in essence, an issue of sustainable
development despite its security implications.
"Discussing climate change at the Security Council will not help
countries in their efforts to mitigate its effects," Liu said.
"And it is hard for the council to?help developing
countries affected by climate change to find more effective
solutions."
"Developing countries believe the Security Council has neither
the expertise in handling climate change, nor is it the right
decision-making place for extensive participation," he noted.
However, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, who chaired
the meeting, argued that the potential for climate change to cause
wars had to move from the fringes of the debate to the Security
Council.
Most advanced economies, including the European Union, agreed
with Britain. But the United States, the world's largest emitter of
greenhouse gases that spur climate change, opposes mandatory caps
on emissions and instead wants to focus on alternative fuels and
energy efficiency.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon supported the debate. He said
projected changes in the earth's climate are not only an
environmental concern, and issues of energy and climate change can
have implications for peace and security.
Pakistani representative Farukh Amil, speaking for the G-77,
said the council's primary responsibility is the maintenance of
international peace and security as set out in the UN Charter.
"The issue of climate change does not belong?to the
Security Council, but rather in the General Assembly, the Economic
and Social Council, the Commission on Sustainable Development, and
in the Climate Change Convention," said Amil.
"We hope that the decision by the Council to hold this debate
does not create a precedent or undermine the authority or mandate
of the relevant bodies, processes and instruments, which are
already addressing these issues," said Amil.
He added that the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) is the right forum to deal with risks linked with climate
change.
Wu Miaofa, a former official of the Chinese Permanent Mission to
the UN, said it is significant that the world body included the
issue of climate change into security concerns as environmental
problems such as global warming constitute a non-traditional
security threat to the world.
But he hoped that "the decision by the council to hold this
debate does not create a precedent or undermine the authority or
mandate of the relevant bodies, which are already addressing these
issues".
(China Daily April 19, 2007)
