Russia has vetoed a draft UN Security Council resolution warning of the impact of climate change on security. The Russian envoy called the draft “unacceptable” by his government.
“We reject the attempts of the Council to establish a common and automatic connection between climate change and international security and to turn scientific and socio-economic questions into politicized questions,” said Russian UN Ambassador Wassily Nebenzia before casting the veto vote.
The twelve members of the UN Security Council voted on Monday (December 13th) for the adoption of the resolution, while China abstained and India rejected it.
“The right of veto can block the approval of a text, but it cannot hide our reality,” said Ambassador Abdou Abary from Niger, who worked with the Irish Ambassador to draft the draft.
The Indian envoy asked what the resolution could achieve, what the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) could not achieve.
“Why is a UN Security Council resolution necessary to take action on climate change when we already have commitments to integrated climate action within the UNFCC?” asked Ambassador TS Tirumurti.
The text, supported by the 113 UN member states, shows the majority view that the Council should take into account the link between global warming and security issues. [vm/jm]
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