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UN / CLIMATE CHANGE PEACE AND SECURITY
STORY: UN / CLIMATE CHANGE PEACE AND SECURITY
TRT: 04:27
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / FRENCH/ NATS
DATELINE: 13 JUNE 2023, NEW YORK CITY / RECENT
RECENT – NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior, United Nations Headquarters
13 JUNE 2023, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, United Nations:
“We already see a strong correlation between Member States facing fragility and those facing climate change. Of the 16 countries that are the most climate vulnerable, nine of them host a UN field mission, namely Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Somalia, Mali, Haiti and Yemen. It is also important to note that the majority of UN peace operations are deployed in contexts that are both highly climate exposed and characterized by high levels of gender inequality.”
4. Pan left, Security Council
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, United Nations:
“Military engineers in South Sudan are diverted to dealing with the floods and building of dikes on a fulltime basis so that they can safeguard critical infrastructure such as IDP camps, UNMISS’ own bases, major roads, and the airstrip. In Somalia, years of conflict have ravaged the resilience of the State and communities. The current drought, the worst in four decades, compounds vulnerabilities and contributes to displacement, hunger and grievance. In Iraq, water scarcity, rising temperatures, and dust storms put heightened pressure on intercommunal relations.”
6. Wide shot, Security Council
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, United Nations:
“In these and many other places, the cascading effects of climate change are reshaping the parameters for our work on conflict prevention, peacemaking, peacebuilding, and peacekeeping.”
8. Wide shot, Security Council
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Juan Manuel Santos, Former President of Colombia, Nobel Peace Laureate and Member of The Elders:
“We are at a moment in history where the world is at risk of dividing into blocs which compete for power and supremacy over each other, rather than cooperating to address the unprecedented challenges and existential threats that we all face. Unite, cooperate or we will all perish.”
10. Med shot, Security Council
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Salma Kadry, Climate, Peace and Security Expert, Consortium on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR):
“There is the need for simplified climate finance tools that are tailored to conflict countries - reach the one most in need. And serve climate adaptation, which is a top priority for the region.”
12. Med shot, Security Council
13. SOUNDBITE (French) Hermann Immongault, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Gabon:
“This debate on climate change in the Security Council once again highlights the crucial importance of considering the climate security nexus, as well as the need to act in the face of the consequences to international peace and security.”
14. Med shot, Security Council
15. SOUNDBITE (English) John Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate Change, United States:
“There's no room for debate on the science here. The crisis is growing. It's undermining our collective peace and security, and without concerted action from this body and every single governmental entity that deals with this, without that effort the world's impact is going to get worse. And it will continue to threaten our peace, our lives, our security, in greater fashion, every day, every year that we do not do we know we need to do.”
16. Med shot, Security Council
17. SOUNDBITE (French) Livia Leu, State Secretary, Switzerland:
“Climate security is one of the cornerstones of stability. We must anchor climate action not only in the Agenda 2030, but also in the new agenda for peace.”
18. Wide shot, Security Council
19. Wide shot, representatives of Gabon, Malta, Mozambique, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Albania and Ghana walking the stakeout
20. SOUNDBITE (English) Mariam bint Mohammed Saeed Hareb Almheiri, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, United Arab Emirates (UAE):
“We are aware that the multilateral system has not faced a challenge as complex as climate change in its history. No one government nor international organization can response to the challenge of climate change alone.”
21. Pan left, representatives walk away
The head of the Peace Operations department, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, said, “We already see a strong correlation between Member States facing fragility and those facing climate change. Of the 16 countries that are the most climate vulnerable, nine of them host a UN field mission, namely Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Somalia, Mali, Haiti and Yemen.”
Briefing the Security Council today (13 June) in New York, during a ministerial-level open debate on climate change, peace and security, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, said, “It is also important to note that the majority of UN peace operations are deployed in contexts that are both highly climate exposed and characterized by high levels of gender inequality.”
According to him, “Military engineers in South Sudan are diverted to dealing with the floods and building of dikes on a fulltime basis so that they can safeguard critical infrastructure such as IDP camps, UNMISS’ own bases, major roads, and the airstrip.”
“In Somalia,” he said, “years of conflict have ravaged the resilience of the State and communities.”
He explained, “The current drought, the worst in four decades, compounds vulnerabilities and contributes to displacement, hunger and grievance.”
Lacroix continued, “In Iraq, water scarcity, rising temperatures, and dust storms put heightened pressure on intercommunal relations.”
The head of the Peace Operations department concluded, “In these and many other places, the cascading effects of climate change are reshaping the parameters for our work on conflict prevention, peacemaking, peacebuilding, and peacekeeping.”
Also addressing the Council, Juan Manuel Santos, Former President of Colombia and Nobel Peace Laureate, said, “We are at a moment in history where the world is at risk of dividing into blocs which compete for power and supremacy over each other, rather than cooperating to address the unprecedented challenges and existential threats that we all face.”
He stressed, “Unite, cooperate or we will all perish.”
Salma Kadry, Climate, Peace and Security Expert representing Consortium on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), noted, “There is the need for simplified climate finance tools that are tailored to conflict countries - reach the one most in need.”
Hermann Immongault, Gabon’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, said, “This debate on climate change in the Security Council once again highlights the crucial importance of considering the climate security nexus, as well as the need to act in the face of the consequences to international peace and security.”
There's no room for debate on the science here. The crisis is growing. It's undermining our collective peace and security, and without concerted action from this body and every single governmental entity that deals with this, without that effort the world's impact is going to get worse. And it will continue to threaten our peace, our lives, our security, in greater fashion, every day, every year that we do not do we know we need to do.
United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry noted, “There's no room for debate on the science here.”
He continued, “The crisis is growing. It's undermining our collective peace and security, and without concerted action from this body and every single governmental entity that deals with this, without that effort the world's impact is going to get worse.”
At her part, Livia Leu, Switzerland’s State Secretary, said, “Climate security is one of the cornerstones of stability.” She stressed, “We must anchor climate action not only in the Agenda 2030, but also in the new agenda for peace.”
Talking to reporters before the meeting, Mariam bint Mohammed Saeed Hareb Almheiri, Minister of Climate Change and Environment of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), joint by the representatives of Gabon, Malta, Mozambique, Switzerland, Albania and Ghana, said, “We are aware that the multilateral system has not faced a challenge as complex as climate change in its history. No one government nor international organization can response to the challenge of climate change alone”.
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