GA / CLIMATE CHANGE

The UN General Assembly adopts a resolution linking climate change to international peace and security. Introducing the resolution on behalf of a group of Pacific Small Island Developing States, Nauru Ambassador Marlene Moses reminds delegates that some Pacific countries "are in danger of losing their populations and land as a whole" due to rising sea levels. UNTV / UNICEF / IRIN / MINUSTAH

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:03:16
• Production Date: 3 June 2009
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: INTEGRATED REGIONAL INFORMATION NETWORKS - IRIN; UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND - UNICEF
• Subject Topical: PEACE AND SECURITY; NATURAL RESOURCES; ENVIRONMENT
• Geographic Subject: UNITED NATIONS STABILIZATION MISSION IN HAITI - MINUSTAH
• MAMS Id: U090603c

Description

STORY: GA / CLIMATE CHANGE
TRT: 3.16
SOURCE: UNTV / MINUSTAH / UNICEF / IRIN
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 3 JUNE 2009, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

Shotlist

RECENT 2009, NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters

3 JUNE 2009, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, General Assembly hall
3. Wide shot, delegates
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Ambassador Marlene Moses, Permanent Representative of Nauru to the United Nations:
“Imagine a country submerging as a whole; consider its territorial sovereignty, its population, and its government. These are fundamental considerations which, under international law, define one’s status as a “State”. Some Pacific countries are in danger of losing their populations and their land as a whole. They will cease to be states. Never before has a UN Member state disappeared. Now we are faced with the threat of losing many due to the adverse affects of climate change.”
5. Cutaway, audience
6. Med shot, Deputy President of the GA adopting resolution
7. Med shot, applause
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Ambassador Phillip H. Muller, Permanent Representative of the Marshall Islands to the United Nations:
“We cannot move our communities to less vulnerable locations on coral atolls which are already so thin you can stand in the lagoon and see the waves crashing clear across the atoll’s other side. With the Marshall Islands’ height of only two meters above sea level even the most conservative 2007 scientific projections of the chief UN scientific body, the IPCC, clearly shows with certainty threats to our national survival, with ensuing upheaval to our very land, our basic water and food security as well as the pillars of our national culture.”
7. SOUNDBITE (English) John Sammis, Deputy United States Representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Council:
“Climate change is among the highest priorities for the Obama administration, and Ambassador Rice has made advancing the climate change agenda one of her top priorities at the United Nations. The resolution adopted today reinforces the member states’ recognition that global climate change poses serious challenges for our planet; requires an urgent response and the widest possible cooperation by all countries, as well as intensified efforts by the United Nations system.”
8. Wide shot, General Assembly

FILE – MINUSTAH – 26 AUGUST 2008, PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI

9. Wide shot, Port-au-Prince bay, trees in wind
10. Med shot, palm tree blowing
11. Wide shot, street vendors hiding under an umbrella

FILE – UNICEF – 30 AUGUST 2008, ARARIYA DISTRICT, BIHAR INDIA

12. Wide shot, man carrying goods over head in flooded road
13. Wide shot, pull man punting raft through floodwaters
14. Wide shot, people with belongings leaving flooded areas

FILE – IRIN – MAY 2008, MAGADI, KENYA

15. Wide shot, Masai woman walking across dry plain

FILE – UNICEF – 17 NOVEMBER 2007, DHAKA, BANGLADESH

16. Wide shot, rough water crashing on shore
17. Wide shot, aerial view of destroyed houses
18. Various shots, destruction

Storyline

The United Nations (UN) General Assembly today (3 June) unanimously adopted a non-binding resolution establishing a link between climate change and security.

At a plenary meeting of the Assembly, several representatives said the resolution was an important step towards bringing the issue of climate change onto the agenda of the UN Security Council.

“Some Pacific countries are in danger of losing their populations and their land as a whole”, Nauru Ambassador Marlene Moses told the General Assembly, speaking on behalf of the Pacific Small Island Developing States which introduced the resolution.

Moses added that some Pacific islands would cease to exist as states. “Never before has a UN Member state disappeared. Now we are faced with the threat of losing many due to the adverse affects of climate change.”

The Marshall Islands Ambassador, Phillip H. Muller stressed that his country couldn’t move its communities to less vulnerable locations on coral atolls which were already so thin that “you can stand in the lagoon and see the waves crashing clear across the atoll’s other side”. He also said that the most conservative 2007 scientific projections from the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) already showed “with certainty” threats to the national survival of the Islands.

US representative John Sammis pointed out that climate change was among the “highest priorities” for President Barack Obama’s administration, and that UN Ambassador Susan Rice had made advancing the climate change agenda one of her top priorities at the United Nations.

The resolution states that the 192 members of the General Assembly are "deeply concerned that the adverse impacts of climate change, including sea-level rise, could have possible security implications." It also asks all relevant UN bodies to intensify efforts to address climate change and asks Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to submit a report on the security implications of climate change.