Security Council Discussion of Climate Change Raises Concerns About "Securitization" of Environment

[rodeodance]

Interesting article--This EARTH has big problems and WE are the problem!

http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5049

Worldwatch Perspective: Security Council Discussion of Climate Change Raises Concerns About "Securitization" of Environment


Michael Renner – April 30, 2007 – 4:00am
Flood in Chennai, India
Floods like this one in Chennai, India, may increase with more severe climate change.

Once the focus of considerable skepticism, both climate change and the concept of environmental security have moved squarely into the mainstream. Not only has public awareness of climate change seemingly reached a tipping point, but the likely security repercussions of the unsettling changes to our planet’s climate are now increasingly acknowledged and analyzed. Recent reports such as the latest assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and last November’s Stern Review report on the economics of climate change have quickened the pace of the debate, as have events like the devastation of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina and the ongoing conflict in Darfur, Sudan, made worse by drought and desertification.

There is perhaps no better sign of this new realization than the recent decision of the United Nations Security Council to discuss, for the first time, the impacts of climate change on peace and security. Though a number of governments—including China and Russia—raised doubts whether the Council was the right forum to take up this issue, the meeting, held on April 17, represented a major milestone, with representatives of 55 nations in attendance.

The discussion came at the initiative of the British government, which circulated a concept paper calling attention to a range of security implications of climate change, including border disputes, migration, societal stress, humanitarian crises, and shortages of energy, water, arable land, and fish stocks. U.K. Foreign Minister Margaret Beckett, who had previously helped negotiate the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, spoke about the potential risks of an unprecedented rise in refugees from flooding, disease, and famine; increased competition for food, water, and energy as a result of widespread drought and crop failures; and the possibility of climate-related economic disruptions on a scale not seen since World War II.

The Security Council discussion is only the latest in a series of recent meetings and reports intended to highlight the intersection of environment and security. The day before the Council met, CNA Corporation released a report commissioned by the Center for Naval Analyses, a U.S. government-financed research group, concluding that climate change “acts as a threat multiplier for instability in some of the most volatile regions of the world.” The report calls for a more constructive U.S. role in reducing carbon emissions, though the authors—11 retired U.S. generals and admirals—remain true to their stripes when they express concern that climate change will make military operations and preparedness more dif