S/PV.9150 Security Council

In accordance with rule 37 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure, I invite the representatives of Colombia, Egypt, Germany, Italy, Morocco, Namibia, the Niger, Poland, South Africa and Ukraine to participate in this meeting. In accordance with rule 39 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure, I invite the following briefers to participate in the meeting: Ms. Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee, Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations; Mr. Tanguy Gahouma-Bekale, former Chair of the African Group of Negotiators on Climate Change; and Mr. Patrick Youssef, Regional Director for Africa, International Committee of the Red Cross. The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. I wish to draw the attention of Council members to document S/2022/737, which contains the text of a letter dated 3 October 2022 from the Permanent Representative of Gabon to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General, transmitting a concept note on the item under consideration. I now give the floor to Ms. Pobee.

I would like to thank Gabon for having convened this meeting. I also thank His Excellency Mr. Michael Moussa Adamo, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Gabon, for presiding over this meeting, which is both timely and important. (spoke in English) The climate emergency is a danger to peace. And although there is no direct link between climate change and conflict, climate change exacerbates existing risks and creates new ones. Africa, the continent with the lowest total greenhouse-gas emissions, is seeing temperatures rising faster than the global average. Africa lies at the front lines of the unfolding crisis. From Dakar to Djibouti, desertification and land degradation drive competition for resources and erode livelihoods and food security for millions. In the greater Horn of Africa, a devastating drought is forcing families to move far from their homes. In the Sahel, conflicts over resources are intensifying. Violent extremists are adeptly exploiting them for their own ends. To support the African continent in addressing the impact of climate change on peace and security, we must act on multiple fronts. We can no longer afford to do business as usual. Unquestionably, we need ambitious climate action and to accelerate the implementation of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. We look to the twenty-seventh Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to be held in Sharm El-Sheikh in November (COP27) —an African-owned, African-focused COP  — for meaningful commitments from the largest emitters. We cannot hope to achieve lasting peace if we do not meet our climate goals. There are three additional priorities for action that I would like to highlight today. First, we need to increase our capacity for risk analysis and integrate a climate lens into our conflict- prevention, peacemaking and peacebuilding efforts. That requires more and better data. With the help of innovation partners, we are tapping into new tools to better understand climate projections and trends in order to reinforce our analytical and early-warning capacity. In Central Africa, for instance, we are working to develop a satellite-powered dashboard to give new insights into water availability and have a better understanding of the intersection between transhumance, climate change and conflict. That kind of work would not be possible without climate, peace and security advisers deployed in climate-vulnerable regions to boost the capacity of United Nations field missions. Both our analysis and our resulting engagement must become more regionally focused. Climate change knows no borders. Its implications for peace and security tend to be most prominent in borderland areas, which requires cross- border resource sharing or human mobility. Yet existing peacebuilding efforts are often entirely based on single countries, rather than being reflective of that regional dimension. It is time we changed that. Earlier this year, the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa completed an assessment of the implications of climate change for peace and security across the region. Among its recommendations, the assessment stressed the need for systematic collaboration, cooperation and partnership on climate security at the subregional level. To that end, efforts to develop a shared subregional vision and governance framework to institutionalize joint responses and interventions in the subregion in the short, medium and long term are needed. The Office is now working with partners to support the development of a subregional climate change strategy by the Economic Community of Central African States. And in West Africa, the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel is working closely with the Economic Community of West African States on good practices to prevent herder-farmer conflicts region-wide, including through land tenure reform and public communication. Secondly, our efforts to deliver peace and security must place people at the centre. We need to learn from those who experience daily the consequences of climate change and leverage their expertise to develop effective climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. Women are particularly vulnerable to climate impacts, but they are also crucial agents of change. They often possess unique knowledge that can help decrease tensions and strengthen social cohesion, leading to more sustainable peace outcomes that benefit people. In Asia, for instance, the Secretary- General’s Peacebuilding Fund has supported local land committees, accompanied by women mediators, that have helped resolve community conflicts related to land use and management of natural resources. Young people are also key stakeholders driving innovative climate and peacebuilding action. We see their activism across Africa and have heard their testimony in this Chamber. The actions we take today to address the linkages between climate change, peace and security will shape their future. Thirdly, we must seize opportunities for climate action and peacebuilding to reinforce each other. The Secretary-General has emphasized that repeatedly. Peacebuilding and climate action share many of the same objectives, namely, resilient, just and inclusive societies. Coherent policies are good for climate and for peace. In that connection, the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel is expanding its capacity to advise partners on conflict-sensitive climate-mitigation and -adaptation strategies. That engagement will help develop the mechanisms to ensure that investment in adaptation and resilience reaches those most vulnerable and affected by conflict. The Peacebuilding Fund, too, is increasing adopting a climate lens. Since 2017, the Fund has invested over $85 million in more than 40 climate-sensitive projects. A review of Fund projects currently under way will provide valuable direction for future efforts. Vital to this ambitious agenda are multidimensional partnerships that connect the work of the United Nations, regional organizations, Member States, international financial institutions, civil society, the private sector and international and local researchers. The United Nations is committed to expanding existing partnerships and forging new ones. Within our own system, we have established the Climate Security Mechanism, a joint initiative between the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, the Department of Peace Operations, the United Nations Environment Programme and the United Nations Development Programme to more systematically address climate, peace and security risks. Delivering on a commitment to international collaboration is a significant undertaking. It will require all of us to work together in new and unprecedented ways. We look to affected countries and regions to guide us in those efforts. Africa’s leadership is essential. Our response today does not match the magnitude of the challenge we are facing. Let us move faster. We look forward to more partnerships and collaboration at all levels.

I thank Ms. Pobee for her briefing. I now give the floor to Mr. Gahouma-Bekale.

At the outset, I would like to take this opportunity to warmly thank the Security Council and its President, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Gabon, Mr. Michael Moussa Adamo, for having proposed a discussion at the highest political level on the complex link between climate change and security issues, particularly in Africa. I would also like to thank the other briefers, namely, Ms. Martha Pobee, Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, and Mr. Patrick Youssef, Regional Director for Africa of the International Committee of the Red Cross. (spoke in English) I have three main objectives for my presentation today. First, I will try to explain the links between climate change and peace and security in Africa. Secondly, I will examine the resources available to Africa in order to address the threat climate change poses to Africa and to peace and security, as well as how to mobilize those resources for lasting peace on the continent. Finally, I will explore how to maximize the international community’s support for Africa so as to minimize climate change’s effects on peace and security. One of the most significant risks to peace and security in this century is considered by many to be climate change. The science and facts are clear; the speed at which climate change accelerates is very rapid and represents a real challenge. Moreover, it threatens to undermine our efforts to maintain international peace and security. That is particularly true for the 54 African States, which are among the most vulnerable to the climate change crisis and the peace and security crisis. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Africa is the continent most plagued by instability, conflicts and wars. According to a report published in 2021 by the Institute for Security Studies, 80 per cent of current peace operations led by the United Nations are deployed in countries classified as most exposed to climate change. All the larger African missions are deployed in areas sensitive to climate change, including South Sudan, Mali, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Somalia. In addition, Oxfam reported in 2021 that 80 per cent of natural disasters between 1990 and 2016 are linked to climate change; that from 2015 to 2020, the impacts of climate change in Africa increased by more than 20 per cent; that the number of people suffering from hunger is projected to increase by 10 to 20 per cent by 2050 due to climate change; and that without ambitious climate action, up to 100 million people are likely to fall into extreme poverty by 2030. Climate change and disaster risk go hand in hand. They are determined by the exposure and vulnerability of an entire system. The rise in global temperature, droughts, rising sea levels and the increased frequency and intensity of storms are affecting the lives and livelihoods of people around the world. In conflict zones in particular, those effects can exacerbate economic, social or political factors of insecurity, leaving already vulnerable populations on the front line of multiple and intersecting crises. Africa holds great promise to become the world’s next powerhouse of economic development. The population is young, natural resources are plentiful and many African countries are ready to transform their economies in order to lift millions out of poverty and into the middle class. The majority of Africans under the age of 30 are already unemployed, and the number of young people will double by 2050, reaching 850 million. But with some initiatives, like the African Continental Free Trade Area, which entered into force in May 2019, we can seize this opportunity and hope for Africa’s gradual integration into a globalized world. It is only together that we can reach a solution for climate change. On this note, a strengthened partnership must be established between the Security Council and the African Union Peace and Security Council in the context of the climate, peace and security nexus. We need to further consolidate our cooperation in early warning, peacekeeping, peacebuilding, climate change, good governance, the promotion and protection of human rights and the rule of law. Africa needs not only the collaboration and partnership but also the commitment of developed countries to fulfilling their obligations, specifically on finance matters. More capacity and resources are needed to shift away from the issues we are facing. The impacts of climate change respect no borders. They risk hampering development prospects and exacerbating Africa’s fragile security landscape, despite the continent’s minimal contribution to the climate crisis. In addition, climate-related security threats are part of a range of other challenges facing the continent, including other more pressing challenges for African countries. Therefore, an integrated African response that prioritizes adaptation and means of implementation support, including climate finance, is urgently needed to galvanize national and continental development efforts, while preventing safety risks. I would like to suggest five recommendations for that purpose: first, development of a national and regional African climate risk assessment study; secondly, integration of climate adaptation into national development planning, post-conflict reconstruction and development efforts, while integrating a security- risk dimension; thirdly, international cooperation and coordination to develop appropriate responses to cross- border threats; fourthly, a call for a clearly identified African agenda for the twenty-seventh Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 27) to advance continental priorities, including adaptation and climate finance; and fifthly, the encouragement of closer coordination among the relevant actors of the African Union Commission in addressing climate change policy issues with a view to supporting the African position at COP 27. I would like to conclude my presentation by saying that we are therefore convinced that it is imperative and urgent to take concrete and urgent measures to address this threat and that we must act now and in unity.

I thank Mr. Gahouma-Bekale for his briefing. I now give the floor to Mr. Youssef.

At the outset, allow me to express the great appreciation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for today’s important debate on climate risks and security in Africa, held at the initiative of Gabon and chaired by Mr. Moussa Adamo. (spoke in English) Representatives of the ICRC, including its former President Peter Maurer, have told the Security Council that the convergence of climate risk, environmental degradation and armed conflict threatens people’s lives and health and worsens food, economic and water insecurity. We have also said that climate change multiplies existing vulnerabilities and inequalities in conflict zones, and that the impact of such overlap can shape human mobility and access to resources on a regional scale. Furthermore, we have drawn attention to the natural environment being a silent casualty of war, as well as the consequences of environmental damage for conflict-affected populations, including a lowered resilience to climate shocks. Today the ICRC, alongside the larger International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, works closely with communities for whom the convergence of those risks is not an abstraction but a reality. What we see is clear. First, the majority of countries considered the most vulnerable and least ready to adapt to climate change are also experiencing wars and armed conflict. Secondly, those converging shocks are dramatically affecting people’s lives, as well as institutions and social cohesion, unfortunately prolonging existing tensions and perpetuating fragility. Thirdly, despite clear needs, actors that are best equipped to provide climate finance and support climate adaptation are largely absent from those places because of security risks. Humanitarian action in conflict areas has also been affected by climate change, where it is clearer than ever that steps must be taken to ensure preventive and long- term responses that strengthen people’s resilience and adaptive capacities. Allow me to offer a few examples in that regard. In several countries in the Sahel, we help farmers and herders cope with increasing variability in rainfall and periods of water scarcity. Providing solar-powered water pumps and high-yielding drought-resistant seeds and training women’s groups in year-round greenhouse agricultural production are some of our activities in Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic and the Sudan. In Mali, for example, we are focusing not just on structures, but also on information. That means getting reliable climate and weather data into the hands of people who need it — the 80 per cent of the population that depends on rain-fed farming and grazing. Timing is also important: we are partnering with the national meteorological department to ensure the data is not only accessible but that it also can be understood and applied to livelihood activities. In the Niger, where conflict is forcing both host and displaced communities together in areas with scarce resources, we are designing an irrigation, agroforestry and agropastoralism programme aimed at strengthening livelihoods and reversing environmental degradation. The programme is indeed based on the notion that in order to be resilient, a community needs to live in a resilient environment. In Somalia, climate change, including severe droughts, coupled with three decades of conflict are combining to worsen an already dire humanitarian situation, in which the recurrent nature of shocks means that people have little time to adjust to them. The ICRC has supported the creation of agricultural cooperatives with training, drought-resistant crops, farming tools and cash for the fuel needed for irrigation. Those cooperatives have helped people to work together to enhance resilience in places in which groundwater production is indeed essential. Frontline humanitarian action is a vital stabilizing factor in fragmented environments and a building block towards peacebuilding efforts. However, humanitarians are not peacemakers and cannot respond alone to the multitude of challenges necessary to achieve sustainable peace. As today’s concept note rightly suggests (see S/2022/737, annex) our common challenge is to work together, in complementarity and at different scales, to respond to the combined effects of climate change and wars. Yet we stumble on the “how” of our collective response, with risks of over-securitizing the solution or taking short cuts that ultimately lead to maladaptation. The Security Council and the African Union Peace and Security Council are international bodies with the ability to design responses to armed conflict that are climate-sensitive. Allow me therefore to offer three suggestions that can help ensure complementarity and sustainable impact. First, in order to adequately address growing climate risks in conflict settings, we need to design context-specific responses that consider people’s individual needs and characteristics. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. Secondly, we should share knowledge and align experiences. The Security Council can indeed ensure this through more regular and systematic discussions, including with regional and subregional organizations. Humanitarian organizations can also help other actors apply a conflict-sensitive lens to their own work and address some of the risks that limit their action. Thirdly, a greater respect for the international humanitarian law that protects the natural environment can limit its degradation and thus reduce the harm and the risks that conflict-affected communities endure, including because of climate change. On a local level, in places where we work, there is no shortage of resolve to find ways to cope with the changing climate. But without decisive support from the international community, what is happening now in many parts of Africa will only get worse, and existing vulnerabilities might multiply. In conclusion, building resilient communities alongside efforts to protect those communities from violence is indeed critical. This also means committing more resources to adaptation efforts, particularly for countries experiencing armed conflict. We must ensure that those most at risk are our urgent priority.

I thank Mr. Youssef for his briefing. I shall now make a statement in my capacity as the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Gabon. (spoke in English) I thank Mrs. Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee, Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, Mr. Tanguy Gahouma-Bekale, Permanent Secretary of the Climate Council, and Mr. Patrick Youssef, Regional Director for Africa, International Committee of the Red Cross, for their instructive briefings. As long ago as 2009, the Africa Progress Panel, chaired by the late Kofi Annan wrote, “The evidence is clear. Climate change is a reality that is already affecting the lives of millions of Africans by reducing agricultural production and food security, increasing water stress, facilitating the spread of diseases, increasing the risk of droughts, flooding and mass migration, as well as by eroding coastal habitats and valuable agricultural space through rising sea levels. “This reality is threatening to overwhelm fragile communities and push millions of Africans even deeper into poverty... “[Some] 23 African countries will face ‘a high risk of violent conflict’ when climate change exacerbates traditional security threats. A further 14 African countries face ‘a high risk of political instability’”. Since then, the international community has lost 13 years through insufficient action to reduce carbon emissions, despite ever more stark alerts from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The frequency and severity of climate-related crises seem to be rising exponentially in all corners of the globe. The year 2022 has seen catastrophic droughts, floods, cyclones and fires, all of which are judged to have been made more severe by climate change. As we speak, 22 million people are threatened with starvation in the Horn of Africa. The expansion of the jihadist movement in West Africa is a clear example of what Kofi Annan was referring to. Climate change leading to desertification and higher human-population densities have resulted in increasingly stressed Peul or Fulani nomadic herders struggling to find places for their cows to graze. Youths in these groups are turning to protected areas, first, perhaps, to provide increased grazing for their cows, but subsequently as staging areas for attacks on civilian populations, resulting in the destabilization of governance, economic strife and armed conflict. Often these individuals and groups started by looking for access to natural resources, taking over areas with weak governance, and only later become radicalized or co-opted by Islamic interests, which use them for their cause. In March 2012, in London, His Excellency President Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon, speaking at a climate and resource security dialogue for the twenty- first century, stated, “Today rainfall and crops in the Sahel are failing, the Sahara is advancing to the south, and Lake Chad, which is receding fast, will soon be little more than a distant memory. Will this be the source of the next mass movement of environmental refugees, leading to the destabilization of countries further south, such as my own? Will it lead to wars for access to scarce resources? Let us be clear — it will. As will poverty. “The resources over which we fight in the future will not be oil, gold and diamonds: the wars of the future will be fought over water, food and land. They will be fought because of the pressures exerted by a growing body of [humankind] on the natural world that sustains all of us and whose balance has been destabilized by the activities of one species — man.” Some 10 to 15 years on, have we made any significant progress to avoid the future that Kofi Annan and President Bongo Ondimba warned us about? Some Council members might ask why the Gabonese Republic, 88 per cent of whose surface area is covered by tropical rain forests with abundant fresh water, and which is arguably one of the most naturally climate-resilient countries in Africa, is so engaged in the climate-change negotiations. Why is President Bongo Ondimba such a climate activist? The truth is, as a rain-forest nation, we are acutely aware that the decisions we make concerning the development of our country have potentially stark implications for other nations. Science tells us that the forests of the Gabonese Republic and the Republic of the Congo are linked by atmospheric rivers to the much-drier Sahel region. If we cut our forests, rainfall in the Sahel will falter, further exacerbating the issues I referred to previously. The same relationship exists between the forests of the eastern Congo basin and Ethiopia. Rainfall in the Ethiopian highlands is linked to the Congo basin rain forests. If we lose those forests, we lose agriculture in Ethiopia, we lose the Blue Nile, and we cause famine in Egypt. The Congo basin forests, including Gabon, are the heart and lungs of the African continent, pumping water, the life blood of the continent, as far as the Mediterranean. Furthermore, the Congo basin forests store the equivalent of almost 10 years of global carbon emissions in their vegetation and soils. Therefore, if we do not keep the Congo basin forests standing, we lose the fight to keep “1.5°C or 2°C” alive, and we are heading to a 3°C or 4°C warmer world, which would mean it would get up to 10°C warmer in continental Africa. If this happens, climate refugees across the continent will be counted in the hundreds of millions rather than tens of millions, and the entire African continent will be destabilized, just as Kofi Annan warned us 13 years ago. This is not a bad Hollywood horror film. This is real. But fortunately, an alternate future still remains possible. If we come together as an international community and deal decisively with climate change, we can avoid the worst of its impacts. But if we do not, future generations will live through a horror that humankind has never seen. That is why President Bongo Ondimba travels to the four corners of the Earth to try and influence the climate negotiations. That is why the Gabonese Republic has scheduled today’s debate. And that is why I am urging the Security Council to set aside the rhetoric that we all know and understand and come together to focus the collective energies and know-how of the members of the Council on the threat posed by climate change to security in Africa. (spoke in French) The effects of climate change interact with socioeconomic and political problems in the poorest countries. The related process shows that there are four key elements of risk: political instability, economic weakness, food insecurity and large-scale migration. Political instability makes it difficult to adapt to the physical effects of climate change, as it becomes difficult to manage the conflicts that arise without violence. Economic weakness reduces the range of opportunities for the population to earn incomes and deprives the State of resources that allow it to meet the needs of the population. Food insecurity challenges the very basis of liveability in some localities where living conditions become critical. Large-scale migration carries a high risk of conflict because of the frightening reactions it often provokes and the humanitarian crises that ensue. Not long ago, the President of Gabon, His Excellency Ali Bongo Ondimba, made a dreadful observation about the lack of rainfall and harvests in the Sahel, recalling that the Sahara was steadily advancing southwards and that Lake Chad was fast receding, and stressing that those were undeniable factors in the mass movements of environmental refugees, which could destabilize countries south of the Sahara. Today many of the world’s poorest countries and communities are therefore facing a dual problem — climate change and violent conflicts, with the genuine risk that climate change will result in, or exacerbate, a tendency for violent conflicts. Those conflicts will in turn leave communities poorer, less resilient and less able to deal with the consequences of climate change. In addition to the typical conflicts that Africa has experienced — political conflicts, identity conflicts and conflicts over natural resources  — climate change is emerging as either a clear root cause or an aggravating factor of conflicts in Africa. To be sceptical about the obvious and direct link between climate change and conflict in Africa is to be blind to the reality of what is happening in the Sahel region, the Horn of Africa and the Lake Chad and Great Lakes regions. The Security Council must stop looking the other way and recognize climate change as a factor that is inherently fuelling political instability and crises in many countries in Africa. In this Chamber, where the peoples of the entire world have placed the destiny of their security and dignity, we can no longer ignore or ponder the relentless reality, particularly clashes among farming and pastoral communities caused by droughts and the insecurity of water resources. The evidence is so compelling that we can no longer wait to act. We must collectively find solutions to the threat that is posed not only to the African people, but to humankind as a whole, because we must acknowledge our shared and distinct responsibilities. Africa is firmly committed to action through the Africa Adaptation Initiative, of which President Ali Bongo Ondimba is the political champion on behalf of the African Union. The initiative focuses on three objectives: providing Africa with reliable data to analyse and predict climate events, mobilizing the necessary financing and supporting the implementation of appropriate national policies. The international community’s response to climate security must drive us to putting the issue of conflict and climate change as high as possible on the international political agenda, with innovative initiatives to reach agreement on the importance of adaptation, particularly in fragile States, and make adequate financing available. We must immediately engage in frank international cooperation at the global, regional and local levels, prioritizing the understanding of, and the fight against, the effects of climate change in order to prevent violent conflicts. The Security Council now faces its responsibilities and has the choice between denial or scepticism, on the one hand, and action, on the other. It goes without saying that the outcome of denial and doubt around this table is the slow demise of countless local communities, an increase in food insecurity, increasing uncontrolled migration and social tensions as a result of shrinking living space, rising prices and expanded pools of recruits for armed groups and terrorist organizations. That is quite simply a wager on widespread hardship and turmoil. Instead, the necessary collective action should lead us to focus in particular on five essential goals: developing an appropriate institutional framework, which includes adaptation to climate change as a pillar of good governance; strengthening coordination among the various partners and mobilizing all actors, especially women and young people, to curb the harmful effects of climate change on security and peace in Africa; ensuring that national adaptation action plans reflect the sociopolitical and economic realities of States and the drivers of crises; developing and articulating the linkage between peacebuilding and development strategies and climate change adaptation; and linking international policy frameworks, in particular the range of different international approaches to the related issues of peacebuilding, development, adaptation and disaster management, while encouraging regional cooperation on adaptation, especially between regional organizations and the United Nations. Let us have the courage today to see the scale of the deprived young people who are driven by despair into the ranks of armed and terrorist groups. Let us have the courage to see the skeletal children who are dying from hunger or thirst at the mercy of birds of prey in the arid lands of the Sahel and the Horn of Africa. Let us have the courage to exhume from the depths of the Mediterranean the remains of young Africans whose pained and peaceless souls lie at the bottom of that immense cemetery of shame. Let us have the courage to deal with such human suffering here and now, and let us act without further delay by responding to the climate imperative as a threat to international security. I now resume my functions as President of the Council. I call on the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Norway.

The climate crisis is rapidly getting worse. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned us that nearly half of humankind is already living in the danger zone. Let me first start by thanking Gabon for firmly placing climate-related security risks on the Security Council’s agenda. I would also like to thank Ms. Pobee, Mr. Gahouma-Bekale and Mr. Youssef for their important insights to this debate. Climate change and environmental degradation are drivers of instability and conflict. We know that. In Africa, water stress, droughts and floods are hitting communities, economies and ecosystems hard. There is strong evidence that the impact of climate change can drive conflict, and that it is a serious challenge to peacebuilding and peacekeeping. That clearly makes climate and security an issue for the Security Council. That should not be controversial. Norway has worked to ensure that climate risks and their peace and security impacts are reflected in Council resolutions and statements. In the case of South Sudan for instance, climate and security aspects are now included in country-specific reports and briefings. That matters. We must also recognize that climate-related security risks cannot be addressed through military or security measures. Climate and security must instead be viewed as an integral part of crisis and conflict prevention and as an essential component in peacebuilding. Going forward, I would like to suggest that we focus on three key areas. First, we need to build climate-resilient communities, infrastructure and livelihoods. That can prevent tensions and avert a return to conflict. Doing that will require a steep increase in financing for adaptation, resilience, peacebuilding and early warning. Norway will do its part. We will double our climate financing and at least triple our support to climate adaptation by 2026. Secondly, we need to ensure meaningful participation by those who are most affected. We must build on local knowledge and expertise and ensure local ownership. We must connect solutions to climate and security challenges with other agendas that African countries prioritize, such as women and peace and security and youth and peace and security. One good example of that is in the Niger, where Norwegian and national institutions are working together to help farmers adapt to climate change. The aim is to strengthen food security, generate income and create new jobs for thousands of people. But another key component of the programme is capacity-building for women and young people, which benefits the community as a whole. Thirdly and finally, we must explore new approaches to mediation and peacebuilding. As highlighted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, environmental peacebuilding offers promising avenues for addressing conflict risks. Dialogue on climate and environmental issues can pave the way for broader discussions on difficult issues and help to build trust. We should therefore start expanding our narrative from talking about climate and security to talking about climate and peace and security.

I now call on Her Excellency Mrs. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Permanent Representative of the United States and member of President Biden’s Cabinet.

Let me start by expressing our deep appreciation to Gabon and to you, Mr. Adamo, for making climate and security a focus of your presidency this month. Gabon has been a true leader on the issue, which is very much appreciated by the Council and others in the international community. I also want to thank our briefers, who have so clearly articulated the perils of the climate crisis and its effects on peace and security in Africa. I have been lucky enough to spend most of my professional career in Africa, travelling to countries throughout the continent. Since arriving here at the United Nations, I have had the chance to make two trips to Africa, one of which was with the Security Council to the Niger, where we had an opportunity to discuss the environmental impact of climate change on that country and how it relates to insecurity. Every time I return to Africa, I am struck by how much the environment and the climate have transformed. It is hotter and the weather has become more extreme. We have seen large-scale droughts and floods, and like you, Sir, we have watched Lake Chad diminish in size. We all wonder when Lake Chad will be no more. That is not just anecdotal; it is scientific reality. Africa is home to 17 of the world’s 20 most climate-vulnerable countries. Here is what we know. Climate change threatens the lives and livelihoods of millions of Africans. It exacerbates displacement and chronic underdevelopment in countries that are already facing vulnerabilities in the areas of economic governance and security. It is also a key driver of food insecurity across the continent. Climate change means shorter growing seasons for farmers, which means smaller annual yields. That has reduced agricultural productivity growth by as much as 40 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa. Devastating droughts have wiped out precious livestock. In Somalia, mothers talk of dead cattle that line the roads as they walk with their children to seek relief from famine. Some children do not make it, starving on the journey, with their mothers forced to leave them behind. That is unthinkable and truly unbearable. We also know that some Member States engage in behaviour that not only exacerbates the climate crisis but makes it more difficult to adapt. Fish stocks are being illegally plundered off the coasts of West and East Africa. Rainforests, a vital natural way to combat climate change, as we heard from the President, are being polluted by illegal mining and deforestation. Endangered species are poached and sold as luxury goods abroad. Funds from those illicit practices fuel terrorist groups, causing even more instability and harm. Given that long list of challenges and the little time we have to stave off climate catastrophe, climate and security are connected and must be at the top of the Council’s agenda. But some Council members continue to argue that this is not the place to address climate-induced security threats and worked to defeat efforts last year (see S/PV.8926) by the Permanent Representative of the Niger to recognize that in a Council product (draft resolution S/2021/990). To be frank, that is dumbfounding, and we really do need to change course. Climate change is a global challenge that requires urgent action, including by the Council. Of course, it is a challenge that requires all of us to advance sustainable clean policies in our own countries. As President Biden made clear during the General Assembly debate last month (see A/77/PV.6), the United States is implementing a bold climate agenda. This summer, President Biden signed into law the single most aggressive action in our history to confront the climate crisis. It will help our country transition to a clean economy, and we hope that it will encourage others to follow suit. In the twenty-first century, that work is vital to international peace and security, because the consequences of climate change are key drivers of conflict. When areas experiencing conflict or insecurity meet dwindling food supplies and economic insecurity, the risk of violence goes up. Droughts, floods, fires and severe weather are making food and economic crises even more dire and peacekeeping operations in complex environments even more dangerous. We also know that women and girls, and other historically marginalized communities are disproportionately affected by climate change and conflict. As water sources dry up, women are forced to make longer journeys, increasing their vulnerability to sexual and gender-based violence. Those trends, along with rising political violence, conflict and insecurity, leave families with impossible choices as they struggle to put food on the table. That is why the United States, through its Feed the Future initiative, has committed to investing more than $5 billion over five years to strengthen global food security and nutrition. Sixteen of the Feed the Future target countries are in Africa, and the initiative will help African communities and farmers better mitigate and adapt to scalable, sustainable, climate-smart agricultural methods. At the same time, we are working to help half a billion people in developing countries adapt to and manage the effects of changing climate through our President’s Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience initiative. Here at the United Nations, we must ensure strong coordination between humanitarian security and climate programmes. That will help us better address the root causes of fragility, and we look forward to the Secretary-General’s new agenda for peace next year. In all of that work, women must be at the centre of all decision-making. Women are key to driving local sustainable solutions. We cannot wish the climate crisis away, although I wish we could. We cannot ignore its impact on security and prosperity in Africa, nor can we pretend that the Security Council, which is charged with maintaining international peace and security, is somehow not the right forum to tackle the security issues that stem from climate change. Today let us therefore renew our commitment to working together, here in the Council, across the United Nations and in our own countries, to unlock a resilient, sustainable, clean-energy economy that enables Africa, with its ample resources and dynamism, to mitigate the impact of the climate crisis.

I would like to begin by thanking Ms. Martha Pobee, Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, Mr. Tanguy Gahouma- Bekale and Mr. Patrick Youssef for their very insightful briefings. I would also like to thank you, Minister for Foreign Affairs Michael Moussa Adamo, for convening this very important debate and for Gabon’s leadership on climate security and action. Your President’s call at Africa Climate Week for innovative, concrete and sustainable solutions led by African nations could not be timelier, with the twenty-seventh Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 27) just weeks away and the Security Council facing a deluge of security issues worsened by climate change. Your statement, Mr. President, starkly highlights the link between climate change and peace and security, and the Security Council has discussed that nexus since 2007. You, Sir, are also right that it has failed thus far to address it, as Ms. Linda Thomas-Greenfield has so eloquently outlined for us this morning. In the intervening period, the list of countries and regions destabilized by unprecedented droughts, heatwaves, floods and other extreme weather events has grown exponentially since 2007. North, West, East and Southern Africa all feature aspects of climate stress manifested in humanitarian and security crises. As the Secretary-General mentioned in this Chamber yesterday (see S/PV.9149), the fact that Africa has contributed so little to the cause of climate change yet suffers so significantly from its impacts is a textbook example of moral and economic injustice. Moreover, climate finance flows to African countries account for only 4 per cent of the global total — a stark deficiency. Many African countries, notably the most fragile, receive less than $2 per capita of climate finance. That is 80 times less than other developing countries, which already receive insufficient climate finance. While there may not be agreement within the Security Council yet on a framework to address the links between climate change and security, we can all acknowledge the urgency and wisdom of raising investments to prevent climate impacts from escalating into security situations. The United Arab Emirates believes there is significant potential for the Council and other United Nations organs to take practical steps in partnership with national Governments to make a real difference for the prosperity and security of front- line communities. In that context, I would like to highlight three areas of action for this year. First, climate finance for fragile countries in Africa must sharply increase. The commitment at the twenty-sixth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to double climate finance for adaptation is a much-needed step forward. But we would like to see additional commitments by climate finance providers made at COP 27 and across other forums to eliminate the gap in their investments in fragile settings, without withdrawing financing from other developing countries. African countries and regional and subregional organizations, such as the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States, have already done the hard work of identifying the priority investments, from food and water resilience to early warning systems. We commend the COP 27 presidency’s Climate Responses for Sustaining Peace initiative to drive progress on that front and match funds with African-led solutions. Secondly, anticipatory action must be a priority. Many climate impacts on security are now highly predictable. Studies by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the Central Emergency Response Fund indicate that twice as many people can be served at the same cost when resources are dispatched in advance on the basis of locally approved, scientifically credible forecasts. The Council should send a clear signal on the security value of expediting such processes and help shift the institutional mindset from reaction to prevention. Thirdly, regarding data, the Council needs more systematic and standardized reporting on climate security risks. Such analysis should be impartial, rigorous and focused on presenting the Council with recommendations on how to react to security threats. We appreciate the work of the Climate Security Mechanism in that regard and the growing number of climate security experts embedded with peace missions and institutions in Africa. That number should increase. We encourage further emphasis on analysis and reporting by the United Nations system, especially through collaboration with African regional bodies. Climate change is a defining challenge of our era. Next month’s COP 27 is a key opportunity to rebalance the global conversation and focus on investment in African countries, especially fragile communities. As the incoming President of the twenty- eighth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the United Arab Emirates commits to ambitious climate action, with a special focus on addressing fragility to further our commitment to empowering the global South. African stakeholders did not create the problem of climate change. But time and again, African countries have shown leadership to develop the strategies to combat climate security risks and be part of the solution. The rest of the world needs to listen and respond to their proposed solutions, working with them accordingly. A Gabonese proverb states that he who asks questions cannot avoid the answers. Africa has answered, and the Council should listen.

I would like to thank you, Mr. President, for your initiative of convening this meeting and providing us with the opportunity to debate this important subject. Allow me also to thank the briefers for their remarks and insights on the matter. Let me begin by stressing Brazil`s commitment to addressing the root causes of climate change and its adverse impacts on all our societies, as well as our firm engagement to the multilateral climate change regime. Climate change is definitely one of the greatest challenges of our time and thus requires an effective response of the international community, based on the best available scientific knowledge and on the principles underscored in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Paris Agreement. Earlier this year, the release of the contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change presented us with a worrisome picture of climate change impacts and risks around the world, including in Africa. According to that “atlas of human suffering”  — to quote the already famous sentence of Secretary-General António Guterres — while Africa is among the regions least responsible for global greenhouse-gas emissions, it is disproportionately affected, both in terms of exposure to its negative impacts and of vulnerability to its risks. Climate change is already causing substantial damage and increasingly irreversible losses, particularly in developing countries. In that sense, much progress is needed within the context of the multilateral climate change regime regarding adaptation and loss and damage, as well as on addressing major financing and other means of implementation gaps and shortcomings. Brazil believes that the twenty-seventh Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 27), to take place in the coming weeks in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, will be a great opportunity to strengthen UNFCCC action in that regard. We are gathered in this Chamber today, however, for a debate within the context of the Security Council. This exceptional circumstance requires us to present a number of very important, critical considerations. At this stage, it is safe to assume that it has already become clear that the question of potential linkages between climate change and peace and security is absolutely divisive and controversial within the Council. We need to overcome this situation. We will only manage to do so if we have absolute clarity regarding the Security Council’s role and functions. Let me reiterate Brazil’s position on this matter: the Security Council is not the adequate forum in which to address climate change. We need to preserve the primary responsibilities, mandates and tools of the Security Council and to avoid a duplication of work. While the adverse effects of climate change are a matter of great concern and, accordingly, must remain among the priorities of the international community, climate change is not in itself a direct cause of armed conflicts, as highlighted by the Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, nor does it constitute a direct threat to peace and security in the sense underscored in the Charter of the United Nations. Under certain circumstances though, the negative effects of climate change may indirectly increase the risk of conflicts and exacerbate humanitarian crises, particularly in contexts where climate hazards interact with high vulnerability. Those vulnerabilities, however, are fundamentally rooted in socioeconomic development factors and political governance constraints. While performing its functions in peacekeeping missions, the Security Council may be effective on the ground by contributing to support efforts of host countries, at their request, to increase local resilience and build capacities, particularly regarding the monitoring of natural disasters and early-warning systems. That does not imply, however, that the Security Council has, or should have, a mandate to thematically address climate change. Neither would it be appropriate to suggest any automatic or direct linkage between climate change and conflicts. This year we celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the UNFCCC. It is a more-than-opportune moment for all of us to renew our commitment to work together and to reiterate the Convention’s centrality as the primary international framework for addressing climate change. Brazil remains convinced that the principles enshrined in the UNFCCC, as well as the provisions underscored in its Paris Agreement on Climate Change, remain essential to ensure the unity of the international community in addressing climate change — now and in the years to come. As I already had the opportunity to stress on previous occasions, what is needed most are concrete steps towards new, additional and enhanced means of implementation for developing countries, including financing, technology transfer and capacity-building. Proper forums, tools and mechanisms for mobilizing and providing those resources already exist within the UNFCCC and the wider United Nations system, and none of them require the direct involvement of the Security Council. In addition, we must recall the need to remain committed to addressing the root causes of climate change, including by not backtracking in the transition towards low-emission energy systems. The recent movements of some developed countries that now seem to be turning to dirty sources of energy are particularly alarming in that context, inasmuch as they move us away from the much-needed steadfast progress in reducing fossil-fuel burning globally.

I wish to begin by thanking the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Gabon for convening this high-level debate on climate and security in Africa and for his statement. We welcome the statements of Assistant Secretary-General Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee and Mr. Tanguy Gahouma-Bekale, former Chair of the African Group of Negotiators on Climate Change. We also thank Mr. Patrick Youssef, Regional Director for Africa of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), for his additional perspective. As a member of the Group of Friends on Climate and Security, we associate ourselves with the statement to be read out by the representative of Germany on behalf of the Group. The contention on the question of climate and security is one that, we believe, has to yield to emerging knowledge of the firm link between the two. As we see from the field, especially on the African continent, the two crises interact. In the Lake Chad region, for instance, where the lake has contracted by more than 90 per cent from its 1960 size, we are witnessing the threat-multiplier effect of climate change for peace and security, including on food and water insecurity, loss of livelihoods, climate-induced displacement and exacerbating vulnerabilities, tensions and conflict. Also, in a 2020 study, the ICRC confirmed what was repeated here today — that of the 25 countries deemed most vulnerable to climate change, 14 were in conflict. Moreover, more than half of the ongoing United Nations peace operations are in countries with the highest exposure to the effects of climate change. Therefore, while there may not be a harmonized view over the degree to which climate change leads to insecurity or whether, in situations of conflict, climate-change hazards are reinforced, we cannot continue to be in disagreement over the notion that, in seeking to resolve conflicts, climate risks, where relevant, have to be tackled as part of the peace efforts. As we confront a worsening ecological threat to the continent of Africa and its impact on social and political instability, we must harness available instruments, such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the African Union Climate Change and Resilient Development Strategy and Action Plan (2022-2032), in order to weaken the link between the two crises and abate its escalation into violence. African States contribute the least to increases in global greenhouse-gas emissions, yet they bear the greatest consequences of climate change. The twenty- seventh Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC, to be held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, should therefore be a different Conference of the Parties — one where commitments made are translated into action. That would be, in our view, a real commitment to breaking the link between the climate and security nexus on the African continent. In furtherance of the climate and security agenda, we will share three main points. First, the Security Council should not be prevented from dealing with relevant aspects of the climate question. As we explained earlier, there is a sufficient link between the climate and security crises, and the Council, as the primary organ for maintaining international peace and security, must embrace climate action in the resolution of conflicts where it is relevant and/or useful to do so. That is not to suggest that Security Council should engage in norm-setting for climate action, but rather that it should not be made to shy away from applying norms universally agreed under the UNFCCC. We therefore encourage the Council to continue with the existing practice of including language relating to climate security in country situations and peacekeeping-mission resolutions, where necessary. That practice has led to the creation of an Environmental Security Adviser position in the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia. Also, the inclusion of the climate-security nexus in regionalized mandates, such as that of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel, should be extended to other applicable missions in the light of the reality of the issue in the region and the continent at large. Secondly, in dealing with the climate and security agenda, the Council should encourage the strengthening of the capacity of regional and national actors to enhance early-warning systems and data-analysis capacities, which are critical for regional preventive action. In that regard, we note the international support for the Africa Multi-hazard Early Warning and Early Action Systems Situation Room for disaster risk reduction and believe that its further strengthening could aid in building capacities to forecast and proactively act on threats and develop resilience to climate-related security risks on the continent. Thirdly, the Council must enhance its collaborative arrangements with relevant United Nations entities in the peacebuilding sector doing commendable work through interventions aimed at addressing climate-related security threats. We are told that, since 2017, the Peacebuilding Fund has allocated $63.4 million to climate security-related projects in countries on the Council’s agenda. It is important that we support the Fund in order to enable it to continue on that trajectory, while also encouraging synergies between such interventions and the overall approach to maintaining sustainable peace. In its collaboration with the peacebuilding arm of the United Nations, the Council should also sustain the whole-of-society approach, while paying attention to vulnerable groups such as women and young people in the process. I cannot conclude without mentioning the burning issue of climate financing. While the countries of Africa require about $2.8 trillion for the period 2020 to 2030 in order to implement their nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the annual climate financing flows in Africa is reported as being less than 5 per cent of global climate financing. It is therefore important for the international community and donor partners to increase climate-financing support in order to help the continent to adapt and to address the menace in a sustainable manner. Ghana believes that climate-related security risks are evident in Africa and require total commitment at the national, regional and international levels to effectively build resilience in addressing the situation on the continent.

I would like to thank Gabon for organizing today’s debate. I also thank Ms. Pobee, Mr. Gahouma-Bekale and Mr. Youssef for their briefings. I would like to emphasize three points. First, combating climate change also means fighting for international peace and security. The effects of climate change are already being felt everywhere. Global warming has worsened access to natural resources, heightened food shortages and made water resources even more scarce. In Africa, increasingly extreme and frequent climate crises are exacerbating conflicts. Climate insecurity is enabling terrorist and armed groups to exploit people’s frustrations. We must therefore create a virtuous circle of socioeconomic development and action in favour of the climate and biodiversity, and the participation of local populations is essential to that. That is the purpose of the Great Green Wall project in the Sahel, a flagship programme to combat the effects of climate change, desertification, food insecurity and poverty from Senegal to Djibouti for which France has helped to mobilize €16 billion. That is also the objective of the Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems initiative launched at the twenty- first Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 21), with the aim of better alerting populations to dangerous climate events. Secondly, the Security Council must fully assume its responsibilities in addressing climate-change related threats. It must be able to better assess, anticipate and prevent the impact of climate change on international peace and security and to draw conclusions from it. France would like to make three suggestions to that end. First, the Secretary-General should prepare biannual reports for the Council on the consequences of climate change for international peace and security. Secondly, recommendations should be developed for targeted actions in risk areas. Thirdly, the United Nations should appoint a Special Envoy for climate security in order to unite the action of the international community. We also call for strengthening the Climate Security Mechanism, whose aim is to enable the consideration of the impact of climate change when peace and security issues are being addressed. Finally, as we await the convening of COP 27 in Sharm El-Sheikh in a few days, it is clear that the cost of inaction is weighing more heavily on our societies with each passing day. France calls on each State to make ambitious, firm and sustainable commitments that are commensurate with what is at stake and benefit the populations that are the most vulnerable to climate shocks. The Council can count on France’s full engagement in all circumstances.

We thank Gabon for convening today’s debate and the briefers for the information they provided us. As we have heard, the adverse effects of climate change are having a substantial impact on conflicts in Africa. Mexico believes that the Security Council should systematically consider how the effects of climate change are undermining efforts to prevent and address threats to international peace and security. The reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change show that climate change has led to greater food insecurity and increased displacement, thereby worsening tensions. It has also hampered our actions to reduce poverty and to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Droughts, floods and the desertification process can leave entire populations without means of subsistence, thereby increasing their vulnerability. Women, girls and boys, as well as other vulnerable groups, are often disproportionately affected by those climate shocks. In 2021, South Sudan experienced the worst flooding in 60 years, leading to massive displacement, exacerbating the humanitarian situation and limiting the scope of operations of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan. Intercommunal conflicts over access to increasingly scarce natural resources have intensified in the Sahel. Meanwhile, in Somalia, which is witnessing the worst drought in four decades, extremist groups are exploiting the climate crisis as a way to spread their influence. In that context, we would like to underline the valuable contribution of the Climate Security and Environmental Adviser to Somalia of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia. While climate change is affecting every region of the planet, the countries with the smallest carbon footprint, including most of the African States on the Council’s agenda, are paying an exorbitant price. Adequate financing for implementing adaptation and mitigation measures is therefore essential in order to prevent the adverse effects of climate change from exacerbating conflicts. We call on developed countries to fulfil their commitments in that regard, particularly their pledge to provide $100 billion per year to support climate action in developing countries, as well as to increase funding for adaptation to $40 billion by 2025, as agreed in Glasgow during the twenty-sixth Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. My country, Mexico, believes that it is essential to improve the United Nations comprehensive risk assessments in order to take into account the adverse effects of climate change. The Climate Security Mechanism is already doing important work in that area, and the Security Council could therefore incorporate the data it has generated into its considerations. That would enable the Council to take preventive action to avert or mitigate humanitarian catastrophes in situations where imminent risks to international peace and security are identified. We believe that such an approach would help the Council contribute to strengthening the African Union’s Agenda 2063, an instrument, we would like to point out, that explicitly includes the climate and security nexus, in a reflection of the continent’s priorities. Today’s debate has made it clear how climate change can increase threats to international peace and security. For that reason, Mexico will continue to support the Council’s efforts to incorporate the specific effects of climate change into strategies for conflict prevention and management. Finally, we know that resistance from within the Council is still significant. That was evident last year, when a draft resolution (S/2021/990) on this subject faced opposition from some delegations and was unfortunately vetoed (see S/PV.8926). We call on all members of the Council to listen to the voices of African countries in conflict situations, which are in agreement that the adverse effects of climate change are a catalyst for threats to international peace and security.

I thank Mrs. Martha Pobee, Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, Mr. Tanguy Gahouma-Bekale, Permanent Secretary of the Climate Council and Former Chair of the African Group of Negotiators on Climate Change, and Mr. Patrick Youssef, Regional Director for Africa of the International Committee of the Red Cross, for their briefings. I have a prediction. In time, we shall all agree about the vital link between responding to the climate crisis and the protection of international peace and security. The question is how much suffering there will have to be — and by how many millions — before we all reach that agreement. In August 2021, the Secretary-General, referring to a just-released report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, called the report a “code red for humanity”. Unfortunately, the expected sense of alarm among world leaders was muted. In November, at the twenty-sixth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 26), in Glasgow, industrialized countries mostly waxed lyrical in front of cameras and then limited action during negotiations. The result was a limp outcome, and a kicking of the can down the road. In December 2021, a draft resolution on climate and security was proposed to the Security Council (S/2021/990). Despite earning sufficient votes, and strong support by Member States, it was vetoed by a permanent member of the Council (see S/PV.8926). In the year since, the response to what is still named “climate change”, but that billions experience as a climate crisis, has only worsened. The energy-supply gaps in Europe resulting from the war in Ukraine have led to a mass return to its exploitation of fossil fuels. These are the fossil fuels that many European and Western Governments insisted not be developed in Africa during negotiations in Glasgow, despite the fact that they are still the heaviest consumers and are responsible for the overwhelming amount of greenhouse-gas emissions. To make the double standard even more glaring, Africa suffers from tremendous deficits in energy, which is a major factor in its disproportionate poverty and underdevelopment. Even the fact that closing the energy deficit for Africa and the continent’s rapid development are key to its climate-change adaptation was resisted in Glasgow. Meanwhile, the climate crisis is manifesting more destructively in our daily lives. For every heatwave in a wealthy city, there are biblical floods elsewhere. And multi-year droughts in such regions as the Horn of Africa are leading to extreme food insecurity and the reversal of years of development gains. This sad litany of short-sighted manoeuvring, resistance to responsibility and double standards is where we find ourselves today. It is important that we establish our precise situation to better debate where we go from here. It should now be clear that the key institutions in global governance are not fit for purpose in advancing peace, climate justice, pandemic responses and inclusion. They respond to the crises of the richest and most powerful while standing on the sidelines for the rest. From the response to coronavirus disease to climate emergencies, and even combatting Al-Qaida terrorist groups in Africa, the shortcomings are glaring. They are deadly. They sap hope in institutions and in the future that they promise. To repeat our old arguments is to expect that they were not heard or that they have been forgotten. But they have not. The bulk of the public and experts all over the world, especially in the industrialized countries, are calling for bold action. We must therefore return to the insistence that without reforms in the global system, humankind’s well-being and international peace and security will be imperilled. For the sake of today’s debate, and despite the failings of the past, it is important that we offer a way forward. To that end, we have five recommendations. Our first recommendation is that Charter-level reforms of the United Nations, the Bretton Woods institutions and the Group of 20 (G-20) are overdue. Responding to this demand by labelling it wishful thinking is tantamount to announcing the system’s irrelevance. It invites, almost inevitably, the emergence of parallel, and probably conflicting, geopolitical orders. Let us bring balance to the permanent membership of the Security Council through the addition not only of great Powers but of States that can best represent the voice of the most climate-change-affected and developing countries. Let us have prompt action by the Resilience and Sustainability Trust, which is administered by the International Monetary Fund, in equitably reallocating the $650 billion in special drawing rights for global public policy, and in particular for climate adaptation. Let us see the African Union with a permanent seat at the G-20. Secondly, let us understand and act on the fact that Africa is a natural-capital superpower that holds the key to the global transition to green. We are not just victims of the climate crisis; we are the mineral-sourcing key to its global solutions. It is time that African countries and regional organizations acted on this knowledge and claimed our natural resources for our people, captured more of their value and ensured stable democratic political systems that can resist external exploitation. The imperative to protect Africa’s natural wealth is a global priority to the extent that it should be one of the drivers of global reform. Our third recommendation is to remove the barriers to a high-energy future for all countries, particularly those in Africa. Industry, commerce, jobs and inclusive growth are powered by energy. Not having that energy consigns billions to grinding poverty, heightened security threats and unstable political life. The transition from a low-energy to a high-energy country must be as green as possible and be aided by adequate technology transfer and investment. Kenya has committed to a 100 per cent use of renewables for electricity by 2030. We are at 90 per cent today. To get to 100 per cent renewables for total energy generation as we rapidly grow our manufacturing sector and industrialize, major equity investment and technology are urgently required. The bottom line is that climate-change mitigation and adaptation cannot be on the backs of the poorest, and we hope that such views will not be brought forward at the negotiating table next month in Egypt. Fourthly, we need immediate action on the ground. The link between extreme-weather events  — the majority caused by climate change  — and conflicts within the purview of the Council is undeniable. It is equally clear that climate-change adaptation is the most peace-positive undertaking in such regions as the Sahel and the Horn of Africa. It is critical that a surge in investments into these regions be made for the sake of sustained peace and security. Fifthly and finally, the Security Council cannot remain on the sidelines when major threats to regional and international peace and security are made much worse by climate crises. Let us attempt to deliver a resolution that leads to pragmatic actions that further the security of communities in conflict areas within the purview of the Security Council. That resolution could promote the requirement that peacekeeping missions have tactical, operational and strategic environmental planning based on meeting mandate objectives and desired end-states. It could encourage the consideration of environmental initiatives in improving community- mission relations, preserving and protecting critical environmental infrastructure, and increasing the impact on mission transition and longer-term reconstruction. We know what needs to be done. It is now for those with the urgency, the responsibility and, most importantly, the vision to do it. Kenya will walk with all States and institutions that are ready to act.

At the outset, I take this opportunity to thank you, Mr. President, for holding today’s debate. I also thank Mrs. Pobee, Mr. Gahouma- Bekale and Mr. Youssef for their briefings. Representatives will perhaps agree with me that the maximum impact of the climate crisis is being borne by the poorest countries and the most vulnerable communities, which have contributed the least to the climate crisis; they also lack the financing, technology and capacity to significantly alter the status quo. That is more evident in Africa than on any other continent. Africa and the countries in the global South have suffered not only due to colonialism in the past, but also in terms of the exploitation of natural resources that fuelled the economic progress, industrial revolution and scientific advancement of the Western world. Any discussion on climate change cannot do justice by ignoring that basic historic truth. The deep bonds of solidarity between India and Africa represent a defining partnership of the global South, one that has been forged over several decades, strengthened by long-standing trade and diaspora linkages, shared struggles against colonialism and common development challenges. Today that partnership is anchored on supporting the efforts of African States in their pursuit of comprehensive socioeconomic development, always guided by Africa’s own priorities. Since 2015, India has extended concessional loans worth more than $12.3 billion to various projects in Africa. We completed 197 important projects, and we are currently executing 65 projects, while 81 projects are being positively considered. Significant development projects, such as drinking-water schemes to irrigation, rural solar electrification, power plants, transmission lines, cement, sugar and textile factories, technology parks, railway infrastructure, et cetera, have contributed towards the socioeconomic development of Africa. India remains committed to its partnership with Africa in its journey towards the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals and Africa’s Agenda 2063. India is second to none when it comes to climate action. Our Prime Minister made ambitious commitments at the twenty-sixth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26) in Glasgow over and above the commitments made earlier. On the sidelines of COP26, the Indian Prime Minister also introduced Mission LiFE — Lifestyle For Environment — as an international mass movement towards mindful and deliberate utilization, instead of mindless and destructive consumption, to protect and preserve the environment. India’s experience may be relevant in the African context as it embarks on its own energy transitions. The International Solar Alliance, spearheaded jointly by India and France, is an important platform, which has a majority of African countries as members and has promoted the rapid deployment of clean energy technologies. In recent years, clean and green energy have increasingly driven India’s development programmes in Africa and beyond. On the specific issue of climate and security, allow me to make the following three points. First, India has consistently held a principled position on attempts to securitize climate change. Linking climate change to security would only intensify the historical injustice towards developing countries, which are already at the receiving end of the environmental crisis. We are committed to climate action and climate justice, and we consider climate justice to be integral to the discourse on climate action. Secondly, we recognize the fact that climate change may have aggravated existing instability in certain parts of Africa. But the oversimplification of causes of conflict will not help in resolving them; worse, it can be misleading. Morphing localized law and order situations into international peace and security issues only serves to distort the narrative on climate change. Moreover, there is no common, widely accepted methodology for assessing the links among climate change, conflict and fragility, as they are highly context-specific. Even the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change states that non-climatic factors are the dominant drivers of existing intra-State violent conflicts, and, while in some assessed regions, extreme weather and climate events have had a small, adverse impact on their length, severity or frequency, the statistical association is weak. The same report mentions that violent conflicts in the near term will be driven by socioeconomic conditions and governance more than by climate change. Thirdly, we reiterate the pre-eminence of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as the forum for addressing climate change and attendant issues. The United Nations-led UNFCCC, which has a near-universal membership, has been the main driver over the years to take us all collectively forward, guided by principles and provisions agreed to by all. It is because of those principles and provisions that the fight against climate change has been meaningful. It represents a balanced, global, democratic effort, where there are concrete commitments from developed countries, as well as the genuine requirements of developing countries, as reflected in nationally determined contributions (NDCs) based on certain fundamental principles, foremost among which is common but differentiated responsibility and respective capability. India announced its updated NDCs after COP26. That being the case, India will continue to oppose any attempt to take climate change out of the UNFCCC and discuss it separately without such principles and provisions. That is precisely why we do not subscribe to the Security Council as a place to discuss this issue. In fact, we view that as an attempt to evade responsibility under the UNFCCC and divert the world’s attention from an unwillingness to deliver where it counts. It is indeed regrettable that developed countries have fallen short of their promises, not just on mitigation and adaptation, but also on providing access to climate financing and technologies. Consequently, to us, the attempt to link climate with security seeks to obfuscate the lack of progress on critical issues under the UNFCCC. Affordable access to climate financing and technologies is critical to moving forward on climate action. Developed countries must provide climate financing of $1 trillion at the earliest. As per UNFCCC provisions, climate financing has to be new, additional and climate-specific, not just diverted from existing levels of overseas development assistance towards climate financing. That problematic clubbing of development financing with climate financing is pushing developing countries into more debt. In recent years, we have collectively made significant progress, with enhanced climate commitments and momentum for accelerated actions. But the years ahead will be critical for concrete deliverables. In that vein, we look forward to COP27, to be held in Sharm El- Sheikh, to usher us into action. India will always support real climate action and serious climate justice. We will always speak up for the interests of the developing world, including Africa. We will do that at the place it deserves — the UNFCCC. We hope that the deliberations at today’s meeting will provide valuable inputs for rendering the climate change debate more inclusive, more just and more action-oriented, as well as for making developed countries deliver on their climate financing commitments, including for Africa.

I thank your delegation, Mr. President, for focusing our attention on the critical link between climate change and security. I also extend my delegation’s gratitude to Ms. Pobee, Mr. Gahouma- Bekale and Mr. Youssef for their insights. We have said it before, and we will not tire of reiterating, that our definition of security must include the threat posed by climate change for the Security Council to devise appropriate security policies and prevent a catastrophic end to life on Earth as we know it. Indeed, climate change is a code red for humankind. No one is spared or immune in any nation and continent on our planet, our only home. The growing climate crisis drives insecurity and conflict, especially in Africa. We cannot deny the reality that we face. Climate change exacerbates and prolongs instability and insecurity in countries already ravaged by violent conflicts and economic hardship. Climate change increases competition for basic resources, such as water and arable land, escalates communal violence and undermines the stability and institutions necessary to provide for public goods. In Somalia, for instance, clan-related conflicts are mainly recorded in areas in which pastoralist communities reside, owing to competition for scarce resources such as water and pasture, or in areas in which farmers clash with nomads over farmland. Climate change is also creating a breeding ground for the further exploitation of the most vulnerable. Terrorist organizations take advantage of the hardship caused by climate change, target critical infrastructure and humanitarian partners and recruit new members. Albania remains deeply concerned about the continued ability of terrorist groups in Africa to restrict relief and humanitarian assistance to those in need. They falsely present themselves as a credible solution to mitigate the impact of climate disasters — this could not be further from the truth. To tackle climate change, a global, integrated response is needed. We believe that response must include the following four elements. First, we must honour our pledge to keep global warming under the 1.5°C limit. Time is running out. Each of us must go the extra mile and step up efforts to meet our commitments. Secondly, we must turn promises into actions. We need to enact supporting measures to build resilience and foster adaptation. Promises must be upheld to finance assistance to the most affected populations and invest in key country-led adaptation programmes, such as the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Programme. A clear road map on when and how financial commitments are honoured must be outlined at the twenty-seventh Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Thirdly, Albania strongly supports the Secretary- General’s call at the opening of the seventy-seventh session of the General Assembly (see A/77/PV.4) for every person, community and nation to have access to effective early warning systems within the next five years. Currently, only 40 per cent of the African population has access to early warning systems to protect them against extreme weather and climate change impacts. Such systems save lives and livelihoods, especially in drought-affected African States. Fourthly and finally, we must take into account the devastating consequences of climate change on women and children. Climate change intensifies the risk of gender-based violence, sexual exploitation and abuse in internally displaced persons camps and hampers children’s access to education. Efforts to mitigate climate change crises must focus on protecting the most vulnerable people and communities by promoting inclusive governance and encouraging the full and meaningful participation of all communities, women, young people and civil society. Allow me to end with the Secretary-General’s words on United Nations Day 2018: “Climate change is moving faster than we are, but we do not give up because we know that climate action is the only path.” Four years later, we are still lagging behind, while climate change is accelerating. We need robust collective action now, before it is too late.

I thank Gabon for convening this very important debate in the Council today. We believe it is very important the Council continue to progress in its work on climate and security. I also thank our briefers — Ms. Pobee, Mr. Gahouma-Bekale and Mr. Youssef — for their very valuable insights. Climate change is one of the defining challenges of our time. Its consequences are severe, multifaceted and global. We share the view of our Kenyan colleagues in that history will judge the Council harshly if we fail to address this issue. We are not asking the Security Council to address or tackle climate change, which we believe should rightly be addressed through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). We do, however, believe that the Council should analyse and understand the effects of climate change on peace and security. At the twenty-seventh Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC in Egypt, Member States must increase their ambitions to urgently deliver on the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. We must make progress on the commitments made at twenty-sixth Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC on climate finance and on loss and damage. We must work to help those who are least prepared to face the damaging effects of climate change. The impacts of climate change threaten lives and livelihoods, drive displacement and contribute to conflict and insecurity. That disproportionately affects women and girls, people living with disabilities and marginalized groups, and African countries continue to bear the disproportionate consequences. Across the continent, from the Sahel and the Lake Chad basin to the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes region, the impacts of climate change have increased competition over scarce resources. They have heightened risks and tensions and contribute to conflict and fragility in regions in which people are already in humanitarian need and have limited capacity to cope. Climate change is an exacerbating factor in armed conflict. Non-State armed groups and terrorist organizations have exploited those in vulnerable and precarious conditions for recruitment purposes. Climate change is also increasingly recognized as the most consequential threat multiplier for women and girls. The need for action is clear, and the time to act is now. Both the European Union and the African Union have recognized the link between climate change and instability. Despite our failure to adopt a much-needed draft resolution (S/2021/990) on the issue last year, the Security Council has increasingly incorporated climate-related security risks into its peacekeeping mandates. But we believe more can be done to build climate-resilient systems that support peace and stability. While, naturally, we were disappointed with the outcome of December’s vote on the draft resolution on climate and security (see S/PV.8926), it is clear that there is huge support for the agenda from all across the United Nations. Yesterday, in Berlin, Ireland joined a number of countries, including some around this table, in launching the Climate for Peace initiative. Ireland remains determined to advance that work. We will do so with other ambitious countries and those affected by the climate crisis during our Council term and beyond. The Informal Expert Group on Climate and Security allows Council members to discuss the research and evidence on climate-related security risks, which in turn informs the Council’s work. Ireland served, with the Niger, as co-Chair of the Group in 2021, and we fully support Kenya and Norway’s leadership this year. Ireland is supporting the placement of a climate security advisor in the United Nations Mission in South Sudan through the Climate Security Mechanism. The Mechanism’s efforts to integrate climate and security analysis and action into the work of the United Nations system is essential, as it can help communities to deal with the impacts of climate change, reduce risks and promote peace and inclusion. In Dakar in April, alongside Ghana, the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel and the Economic Community of West African States, Ireland co-hosted the regional conference on climate change, peace and security in West Africa and the Sahel. The conference’s call to action recognizes the threat that climate change poses to the peace and stability of the region and calls for support for countries that wish to address climate-related security risks. The international community is starting to realize that the need to address the climate crisis is urgent. We are grappling with its impacts on people and on communities in every region and in every country. Our responses must be comprehensive while being responsive to particular contexts. We therefore believe that today’s debate can contribute to that, if it can build momentum towards the deeper and meaningful integration of climate-related security risks in the work of the Security Council.

Let me begin by thanking all of our briefers for their presentations today. The United Kingdom sees an undeniable link between climate, nature, peace and security in Africa and around the world. We were the first to bring climate security to the Council in 2007 and hosted the first leader-level debate in 2019. We therefore welcome continued African leadership on the issue under Gabon’s presidency and regret that the draft resolution tabled by the Niger and Ireland in December (S/2021/990) was blocked by a single veto. As the Secretary-General has advised the Council many times before, the impacts of climate change multiply the threats faced by vulnerable populations. We are seeing that play out in the drought in East Africa and changes in rainfall across the Sahel. Climate change is exacerbating pre-existing drivers of insecurity, pushing those regions into humanitarian crisis. Increased competition for water and land, along with biodiversity loss and migration, is risking conflict, food insecurity and lives. The Security Council can help ensure the United Nations system has the mandates and capacities to integrate climate into its analysis and response to the drivers of conflict and fragility. The United Kingdom is clear that it must accelerate climate action, deliver on the Glasgow Climate Pact agreed last year and meet financing commitments to build resilience. We are working to achieve that in a number of ways. The United Kingdom made 10 commitments to Africa at the twenty-sixth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 26) and has started delivering on them. In January, we announced $23 million to support 1 million people in drought and flood-affected areas in Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and South Sudan. Under the African Union Green Recovery Action Plan, the United Kingdom has funded experts in the African Union Commission and enhanced capacity to implement climate action plans across the continent. The United Kingdom has committed £100 million to the Taskforce on Access to Climate Finance, part of which established a new climate finance unit in Uganda’s Ministry of Finance. And we have committed to doubling our international climate finance to at least £11.6 billion up to 2026, balanced between mitigation and adaptation. We are also taking responsibility for our country’s impact on climate change, as the first major economy to commit to reducing all greenhouse-gas emissions to net zero by 2050. Collectively, we cannot allow any rollback from the commitments made in the Paris Agreement on Climate Change or the Glasgow Climate Pact. Instead, we should redouble our efforts to translate those agreements into action at COP 27 next month and the fifteenth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in November. Our commitment to climate action is the basis for a peaceful and secure world.

We thank Ms. Pobee, Mr. Gahouma-Bekale and Mr. Youssef for their briefings. The Russian Federation considers the problem of climate change a top priority, especially in regions such as Africa that are particularly vulnerable to natural disasters. It is an undeniable fact that climate-induced droughts, floods, forest fires, desertification, hurricanes and other natural disasters have serious economic and social consequences. We share the concerns expressed in the concept note (S/2022/737, annex) of the Gabonese presidency of the Council in connection with the fact that in certain regions, and particularly on the African continent, the effects of climate change create conditions that lead to intercommunal clashes and violence. In that regard, we believe it is appropriate not only to step up global efforts to combat climate change, but also to help the countries affected adapt to its negative consequences, and especially with a view to bringing about qualitative change in their socioeconomic situations. We believe that solidarity on the part of the international community is essential to addressing issues of long standing that continue to beset Africa, such as problems of access to clean drinking water, food security, the restoration or strengthening of industry and agriculture and early-warning systems. However, it is important to avoid fragmenting assistance for development and for addressing the degradation of the environment but rather to focus on comprehensive and effective measures. Indeed, as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says in its report Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, which has already been cited today, “[c]ompared to other socioeconomic factors the influence of climate on conflict is assessed as relatively weak”. We believe that, if we are to successfully address those challenges, we need sustainable socioeconomic development that is based on national priorities and takes into account local specifics. We need infrastructure, effective social services and early- warning and response mechanisms. We have given particular attention to the African policy documents that address the links between sustainable development and security, that is, the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the Silencing the Guns initiative, which notes the importance of effectively combating drought, desertification, deforestation and climate change in the context of the connection to sustainable development. That is precisely the missing link in the efforts to forge a chain that ties climate to security, and in fact it is the main area where action should be taken. As far as the Security Council is concerned, we believe it is important to focus on analysing the reasons for each conflict. There should not be a single yardstick, since any errors in defining the specific issues that exacerbated the differences makes the responses less effective. Unfortunately, many such country-specific topics have been on the agenda of the Security Council for decades. We see no added value in piling on yet another general criterion. In our experience, the inclusion of new generic topics at best leads to wasted resources and at worst becomes yet another tool for putting pressure on host States. I want to emphasize that if there is a specific problem in a particular country or region and the Security Council has the tools to resolve it, it must take action. But the mandates adopted by the Council should not constitute a set of priorities that are most popular at the United Nations and largely promoted by the West. In parallel, it is vital to expand our efforts on the humanitarian assistance and social and economic development fronts, since most countries affected by conflict find themselves in difficult socioeconomic circumstances. There is a hidden agenda in the so-called securitization of climate. The main apologists for decarbonization and the green economy are developed countries that have achieved their economic prosperity through their exploitation of natural resources, including fossil fuels, and much of that wealth came from Africa and still does. The result is that in advocating for increased ambitiousness on climate, the developed countries are starting from intentionally advantageous positions. And now they are continuing to roll back compliance with their own climate obligations, making a deliberate choice to sacrifice the global climate agenda for the benefit of the political agenda. Meanwhile, Africa, whose vital interests have once again been sidelined by the global agenda dictated by the West, risks being further harmed by climate-related natural phenomena, as well as the ill- conceived unilateral decisions of so-called climate champions. Such double standards and approaches must be eliminated from future international cooperation on climate. We are convinced that the division of labour enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations must be preserved for the effective functioning of the United Nations system. The Security Council cannot and should not duplicate the work of other United Nations entities. Combating climate change and its negative social and economic consequences falls exclusively within the framework of sustainable development. We call for enhanced cooperation in the relevant multilateral forums dealing with climate change, in general, and its negative manifestations in the economic and social spheres, primarily under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The United Nations development system can make a practical contribution to adaptation, the elimination of the consequences of cataclysms and strengthening early- warning systems with the help of international project activities  — the much-needed work of the United Nations operational agencies. Russia pays attention to the climate agenda in our interaction with the United Nations agencies for the benefit of African countries.

China congratulates Gabon on the success of its Africa Climate Week last month. As one of the few countries where carbon sequestration exceeds carbon emissions, Gabon has made progress in protecting its natural environment and addressing climate change, providing experiences and practices for others to learn from and draw upon. I welcome Foreign Minister Adamo to today’s meeting and thank Assistant Secretary-General Pobee, Mr. Gahouma-Bekale and Regional Director Youssef for their briefings. Africa is one of the regions most affected by climate change, yet it is least able to address its impact. Africa accounts for less than 4 per cent of global greenhouse-gas emissions, yet temperature rise on the continent is higher than the global average. Frequent extreme weather and meteorological disasters have seriously affected Africa’s ecological environment and hampered its socioeconomic development, sparking the thought-provoking question of the relationship between climate change and security. Climate change may exacerbate resource shortages and tensions, but it does not necessarily lead to armed conflict. This summer, both Europe and parts of Africa experienced spells of extreme heat, but the aftermaths were very different, mainly because of the huge difference in the two regions’ ability to cope with climate change. That tells us that the ability to withstand climate shocks is crucial. In order to stop climate change from becoming a security threat, we must use a targeted and calibrated response, focusing on helping Africa to strengthen capacity-building, enhance climate resilience and accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In that regard, I would like to make the following four points. First, pragmatic actions should be taken to help Africa enhance its response capacity. According to the World Meteorological Organization, only 40 per cent of Africa’s population has timely access to disaster early- warning information. The international community should take real action by working on specific issues, such as monitoring and early warning, disaster preparedness, as well as prevention and mitigation, in order to increase support and investment in Africa so as to effectively enhance its response capacity. China supports the universal early-warning system initiative proposed by the Secretary-General and supports the United Nations in strengthening coordination with the African Union (AU) and subregional organizations on climate action in order to achieve greater progress in enhancing Africa’s climate resilience. Secondly, developed countries should honour their climate-financing commitments to Africa as soon as possible. Helping Africa address climate change is not about how loudly one chants slogans, but about whether the commitments are being fulfilled and whether Africa’s needs are being met. Developed countries have pledged to provide $100 billion a year in climate financing to developing countries, and developed European countries have pledged to double financial support for climate projects in poor African countries by 2025. Those pledges must not become merely lip service. Arrears must be paid as soon as possible, and new collective quantitative funding targets should be defined so that African countries can actually receive the funds needed to carry out work that produces tangible results. International financial institutions and climate-finance platforms should also lower the financing threshold in order to ensure that climate finance is equitable and accessible to Africa. Thirdly, international equity and justice should be reflected in the climate issue. Many countries in Africa are still at the early stage of industrialization and face the dual task of promoting socioeconomic development and addressing climate change. Developed countries, on the other hand, have already achieved industrialization. Asking Africa and other developing countries to assume the same climate responsibilities as developed countries goes against international equity and justice. In order to achieve the temperature-control target set by the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, developed countries should take the lead by drastically reducing emissions and significantly moving up the date to achieve carbon neutrality. That would provide development space for Africa and other developing countries. The wavering and regressive stance of some developed countries on the issue of climate change is cause for concern. Fourthly, we should support Africa’s efforts to promote green and sustainable development. African countries have realized that a response to climate change is possible only through sustainable development and have taken positive steps in that regard. The AU and African countries have set clear goals for energy transition and are striving to build a low-carbon, affordable and clean energy system. The international community should increase its comprehensive support to Africa in terms of financing, technology and human resources in order to help Africa unleash its green- development potential and achieve a green and low- carbon transformation. Next month, the twenty-seventh Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will be held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. This is a premier international climate forum in an African country, as well as an important opportunity for the international community to reaffirm its climate commitment to Africa. China fully supports Egypt and Africa in hosting the Conference and looks forward to its positive and balanced outcome with regard to mitigation, adaptation and financing. Towards the end of last year, the eighth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation adopted the Declaration on China-Africa Cooperation in Addressing Climate Change, proposing the establishment of a new era of China-Africa strategic partnership to address the impact of climate change. The Conference also saw the inclusion of the green- development project in the initial three-year plan of the China-Africa Cooperation Vision 2035. Last month, China hosted a ministerial meeting of the Group of Friends of the Global Development Initiative, where a proposal was made to promote the Global Clean Energy Cooperation Partnership. Among the first projects is the cooperation on climate change response and green development in 19 African countries. China’s support of Africa’s efforts to combat and tackle climate change has been consistent and ever-present.

I now give the floor to the representative of Germany.

I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of the Group of Friends on Climate and Security. Our group of more than 60 members from all regions of the world is united by one common concern. Climate change is increasingly threatening livelihoods, food security, stability, sustainable development and prosperity, the effective enjoyment of human rights and, in turn, peace and security. We therefore strongly welcome the Security Council’s renewed attention to this threat, one of the defining challenges of our time. We are very grateful to Gabon, as President of the Security Council, for convening this important debate and are delighted to welcome Gabon as the newest member of the Group of Friends. While climate change is affecting all parts of the world, it disproportionately affects the poorest and most fragile regions, which are prone to climate shocks and have a lower capacity to adapt. In such fragile settings, women and girls are especially vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change. African States are among those most vulnerable to the consequences of the global climate crisis, although they contribute to only around 4 per cent of the global increase in greenhouse-gas emissions. In many parts of Africa, we can already see how climate change exacerbates resource scarcity and food insecurity, makes people more vulnerable to exploitation by armed groups, can intensify armed conflict and may force people to migrate. In addition to that, there is growing scientific evidence that deforestation in the Congo basin may alter rainfall patterns and reduce rain not only in Central Africa, but also beyond, with potentially dramatic consequences for food security and social stability. We must therefore intensify our collective efforts to address the climate crisis while immediately enhancing support for those most affected, such as African States. It is only by truly working together that we can prevent the adverse effects of climate change from resulting in violence and instability. We therefore welcome the African Union (AU) Agenda 2063, which explicitly includes the climate-security nexus among its core priorities, and efforts to strengthen the partnership between the United Nations system and the AU. Member States must limit global warming and redouble their efforts on climate action to keep warming below 1.5°C by fully and ambitiously implementing the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, including through the commitments reflected in the Glasgow Climate Pact. Climate finance and means of implementation, as well as development and humanitarian finance, can, if used well, contribute to sustaining peace and security. We must work together to find ways to integrate conflict sensitivity into mitigation and adaptation efforts. We must ensure that climate policies and climate financing take conflict and fragility into account and that efforts to sustain and build peace take into account the adverse effects of climate change. Investments in climate adaptation often also benefit peace and stability. By mitigating the negative effects of climate change, we produce security. In that context, and in my national capacity, I would like to thank everyone here who has contributed to the success of the Berlin Climate and Security Conference, which just concluded today. Building climate-resilient systems that support peace and stability urgently requires much more concerted international effort and strong partnerships. The entire United Nations system must address that challenge in all relevant forums and within all relevant mandates. The United Nations is already doing important work in that regard. The Climate Security Mechanism enhances the capacity of the United Nations system to integrate the analysis of climate change and address its impacts on peace and security matters through effective interagency cooperation, and it should be strengthened. The Security Council has the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. We welcome the progress made in that regard, including the recognition of the effects of climate change in its consideration of the growing number of mandates for peacekeeping and special political missions. The Informal Expert Group on Climate and Security has proven crucial in informing the Council’s work in that regard. However, more needs to be done to ensure a truly systematic approach and to create the tools necessary for the United Nations system to do its part in preventing and resolving conflicts that are driven or aggravated by the effects of climate change. The Group of Friends on Climate and Security urges all members of the Security Council to listen to the increasing number of countries who are experiencing instability and insecurity as a result of climate change and then support their requests for action by the Council instead of blocking it. Such action includes creating and implementing much-needed frameworks that will enhance the United Nations comprehensive risk assessments and strategies that take into account the effects of climate change, capacity-building and operational response. We stand ready to support all such efforts. To conclude, climate change is a global threat to peace that no region can face alone. African States and others particularly affected by the dramatic effects of climate change deserve the full support of the international community and, when climate change threatens peace, of the Security Council. We must all do our part to sustain peace and prevent conflict in the face of the climate crisis. Let us do so now.

I now give the floor to the representative of Egypt.

I would like to express our deep appreciation for Gabon’s initiative to hold today’s relevant debate on climate and security in Africa. Egypt reaffirms its strong commitment, in the light of its presidency of the twenty-seventh Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 27), to strengthening our joint work in addressing the existential threat of climate change. We are steadfast in our commitment to addressing the challenges posed by climate change and believe that the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and the relevant international conventions, especially the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Paris Agreement on Climate Change, remain the platforms with an original mandate to herald the necessary solutions to address the climate crisis in all its manifestations. However, climate change is widely recognized as a threat multiplier and driver of conflict that is affecting the peace and stability of several regions globally, especially Africa. That is why it is important to addressing the increasing connection between climate change and security. Africa is contributing the least to the climate crisis, with merely 3 per cent of global carbon emissions. However, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group II, on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability, it is the most vulnerable to its devastating impacts, including droughts, floods, cyclones, rainfall variability, water scarcity, desertification and sea level rise. Those interrelated and cascading risks can have far-reaching implications on peace, security and development across the African continent. That may lead to displacement and humanitarian crises that would affect the continent’s peace and stability. We believe that there is a dire need to address the implications of climate change, including on peace and security, through a holistic approach. Climate finance is needed now more than ever to address the adverse effects of climate change, which affect all forms of livelihoods and have implications on peace and security. To achieve our ultimate goal of limiting warming to below 1.5°C, collective action has to be implemented. I stress the importance of delivering the financial commitments in the context of the UNFCCC, especially the $100 billion. Concessional financing has to be an integral part of the financial instruments provided to developing countries. Realizing a global goal on adaptation and a new quantified financial goal on the basis of providing $100 billion by 2025 remains a priority that we all need to work together to achieve. We also support the calls by the Secretary-General to allocate 50 per cent of climate finance to adaptation and resilience. Estimates by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development indicate that annual climate adaptation costs in developing countries could reach $300 billion in 2030. Addressing the climate adaptation needs of developing countries would enable a preventative effect in that regard. In certain complex situations, purely technical approaches to adaptation will fail to address the socioeconomic variables that contribute to conflicts. Therefore, conflict-sensitive adaptation, which transcends technical responses, should include multi-disciplinary projects to build comprehensive resilience against the impacts of climate change and the related security threats. Against this backdrop, the Egyptian presidency of COP 27 will launch an initiative entitled “Climate Responses for Sustaining Peace”, with the aim of ensuring that integrated climate responses contribute to sustainable peace and development in line with national ownership and context specificity. The initiative aims to contribute to the realization of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the African Union Agenda 2063, as well as to the implementation of the African Union’s Silencing the Guns initiative and the African Union Climate Change and Resilient Development Strategy and Action Plan (2022- 2032). In conclusion, Egypt remains fully committed to addressing the issue of climate financing and looks forward during its presidency of COP 27 later this year to continuing our global work to reach concrete outcomes in relation to climate change with a view to achieving the sustainable development of developing countries while ensuring their peace, security, stability and prosperity.

I now give the floor to the representative of Italy.

Italy thanks Gabon for convening this timely debate and the briefers for their insightful briefings. While aligning this statement with the statement of the representative of Germany, who spoke on behalf of the Group of Friends on Climate and Security, I would like to deliver the following remarks in my national capacity. The two-way interaction of climate and security cannot be ignored. The adverse effects of climate change, coupled with other destabilizing factors, such as extreme poverty, food insecurity, institutional fragility and terrorism, are posing a serious threat to international peace and security. At the same time, social tensions and conflicts can further reduce resilience to climate change, especially when communities largely depend on scarce natural resources for their livelihoods, hampering development perspectives. African States and their most vulnerable populations, including women and children, are often among the world’s most affected by the disruptions caused by climate change, which acts as a threat multiplier for violence and instability. The ongoing severe droughts and heat waves in the Horn of Africa and the Sahel are displacing millions of people and fuelling conflicts. This is not only an African problem; it is an alarm bell for all of us, requiring that we find collective solutions, working hand in hand with our African partners. The report State of the Climate in Africa 2021 reveals that high water stress is estimated to affect about 250 million people on the continent and displace up to 700 million individuals by 2030. Italy therefore welcomes the efforts by African Member States to bring the links between climate change and security in Africa to the attention of the Security Council and the entire United Nations membership. As a founding member of the European Union (EU), Italy sees the benefit of a reinforced partnership between the United Nations and regional organizations. The nexus between climate change, peace and security is indeed being mainstreamed across joint United Nations-EU priorities. In this vein, we encourage all Member States to back a strengthened partnership between the United Nations system and the African Union, to tackle together the risks to peace and stability posed by the climate crises that are affecting too many regions in Africa. To tackle climate change we need to accelerate international climate action on all fronts: mitigation, adaptation and finance. Giving increased attention to the climate-security nexus must also be part of these efforts. Stepping up climate finance is particularly critical. Financial flows should be oriented towards the design and implementation of projects in conflict- affected areas, where the negative consequences of climate change are most profoundly felt and aggravate insecurity. Moreover, we believe that mitigation and adaptation should be further integrated into the formulation of mandates for United Nations peacekeeping missions. We must pursue a holistic approach, ensuring that peace operations perform efficiently and sustainably in the field. Italy co-chairs the Group of Friends on Leading Environmental Management in the Field, together with Bangladesh, and is particularly engaged in this area. We will continue to make our contribution. At the national level, Italy — through its Carabinieri Corps — has set up an International Centre of Excellence for the environment, aimed at training military and police forces, as well as civilians, on environmental protection. We are looking forward to working with the United Nations system and all Member States on capacity-building programmes.

I now give the floor to the representative of Morocco.

I first would like to thank Gabon for organizing today’s Security Council debate, which provides an appropriate opportunity to bring our messages to the United Nations and to the world in order to raise awareness of the security consequences of climate change and recall that not only is climate change an environmental and economic policy issue, but it is also a major challenge for international security and an existential threat to humankind. Morocco congratulates Gabon for placing this issue at the heart of its presidency of the Security Council. The international community must act where climate change threatens peace and security before conflicts break out or escalate. The Kingdom of Morocco attaches particular importance to climate action at the national, regional and international levels. At the national level, Morocco has adopted an ambitious policy to combat climate change and develop renewable energy sources. However, we live in a region that exemplifies the interdependent link between climate change, security and sustainable development. The African continent and especially our sister regions of the Sahel and the Congo basin are unduly and disproportionately penalized by the consequences of global warming. As a low emitter of greenhouse gases, with less than 4 per cent of global emissions, Africa is unfairly suffering the drastic effects of climate change — a situation that should be of concern to the international community as a whole, and of course to the Security Council. Based on this observation, Morocco is fully committed to pursuing the momentum in favour of cooperative continental progress around ambitious and concrete transnational projects, which was triggered during the first African Action Summit, organized by His Majesty King Mohammed VI on the sidelines of the twenty-second session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 22), in Marrakech. In this regard, and in accordance with His Majesty King Mohammed VI’s high-level instructions, Morocco is providing, in the context of South-South cooperation, financial and technical support for the operationalization and functioning of the three climate commissions, namely, that of the Congo basin, which is chaired by the Republic of the Congo; that of the Sahel region, which is chaired by the Republic of the Niger); and that of Island States, which is chaired by the Republic of Seychelles. Moreover, the twenty-seventh session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 27) will be held on the African continent, in Egypt, six years after the COP 22 organized in Morocco. COP 27, which I would call an African conference, offers an opportunity to take up matters relating to prioritizing the financing of climate adaptation in Africa and offering concrete solutions, particularly with regard to the adaptation of African agriculture to climate change. In this spirit, Morocco remains committed to South- South agricultural cooperation, particularly in Africa, which has more than half of the world’s uncultivated arable land. Our continent also has a young population and a huge continental market of more than one billion people, which must be energized and developed to ensure food security in Africa. If there is one promise that should finally be kept today to developing countries, especially those that are most vulnerable to global warming, it is of course the promise to help restore the imbalances caused by climate change. Accordingly, Morocco welcomes the commitment made by international partners at the first summit of the Heads of State and Government of the Climate Commission for the Sahel Region, held in Niamey in February 2019, to finance the implementation of the Commission’s regional priority programme in the amount of $3.41 billion. That is an important step that should be continued in order to provide the Commission with full bilateral, regional and international support for the implementation of the climate investment plan. Moreover, the Kingdom of Morocco, as a founding partner country, and above all as an active African member of the region, is firmly committed to supporting the actions of the Sahel Commission by carrying out the feasibility studies to finalize its climate investment plan. In conclusion, let us never forget that entire regions, and several in Africa, will become unliveable over the next few decades under the scorching effect of global warming. According to a recent report — issued yesterday, if I remember correctly  — by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, climate change is an increasingly powerful driver of migration that could force some 216 million people in the developing world to migrate by 2050, particularly to already fragile regions. In that context, we need to step up our efforts to support green, resilient and inclusive development and reduce the impact of climate change on vulnerable African countries. As long as the international community’s climate targets are not sufficient to reduce global warming to an acceptable level, the impact of climate change will be on the agenda of the Security Council.

I now give the floor to the representative of Namibia.

Namibia congratulates the Republic of Gabon on using its presidency of the Security Council to highlight the important nexus between climate and security. Climate change effects everyone, everywhere. Our world is on fire. We see that in African countries, where we are already experiencing an increase in persistent drought, extreme weather events, sea-level rise, coastal erosion and ocean acidification, further threatening food security and efforts to eradicate poverty and achieve Africa’s Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. The direct link between climate change and conflict is not one that we draw naturally and logically. However, in triangulating the link among climate change, conflict and development, we can clearly recognize how climate change interacts with other intervening variables, such as social, political and economic marginalization, water scarcity, food security, resource competition, low economic development, population displacement and migration, among other things. When debating the security dimension of climate change, the Security Council has not always been forthcoming in establishing a direct link between desertification, land degradation and drought and ongoing violent conflicts in Africa. It is no coincidence that 100 per cent of migrants moving towards Europe from Africa and the Middle East region during 2015 came from highly vulnerable dry lands. Desertification is a silent, invisible crisis that is destabilizing communities on a global scale and whose effects are increasingly felt globally as victims become refugees, internally displaced people and forced migrants or turn to radicalization, extremism or resource-driven wars for survival. Today land restoration and mitigating the effects of drought can contribute to better security, since the disenfranchised populations can enjoy prosperity arising from land-based jobs, better food security and better health. The arid and dry-land scenes of desolation and deprivation that we witness today can be turned into oases of peace, stability and prosperity tomorrow. Despite the fact that developed countries have been the largest contributors to climate change, its costs are borne by the poorest communities and countries, mostly developing countries. Those countries are the most dependent on climate-vulnerable sectors and have the least capacity to adapt. We therefore call on developed countries to take the lead in raising both mitigation and financial ambitions in the fight against climate change. Africa needs support for climate-resilient technology to support the economic future of countries like Namibia that depend on agriculture, but are faced with challenges, such as adverse weather patterns and scarce water resources. While the Security Council has been cautious regarding such discussions, let us recognize Africa’s leading response to the threat of climate change. African countries have demonstrated the necessary political commitment to fighting climate change. By 2021, all African countries had submitted their revised nationally determined contributions. Furthermore, the African Union, through its Committee of African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change, has played an exemplary role in bringing attention to climate change issues at the level of Heads of State and Government. The Committee has been providing political leadership and strategic guidance on Africa’s discussions on climate change by advocating for a common African position on climate change. That approach has ensured coordination surrounding climate decisions, including on migration and security. Given Africa’s political commitment to countering the effects of climate change, we urge the Security Council members to support those efforts through investments in climate-information services and disaster risk reduction, including early-warning systems and adaptation measures for critical sectors, and by creating the necessary frameworks that will enhance risk analysis, capacity-building and operational response. By strengthening the capacity of African Member States to develop more integrated responses to climate-related security risks, we empower African countries to lead the dialogue on their own security threats with full local and regional ownership. In conclusion, let us be proactive on this discussion. Climate change and its threat to peace and security is no longer a far-fetched tale of a fictional dystopian world. We call on the Security Council to maintain the momentum regarding discussions related to climate and security, as that nexus poses the next frontier of emerging threats for the world.

I now give the floor to the representative of the Niger.

I would like to begin by extending to you, Mr. President, my warmest congratulations on Gabon’s assumption of the presidency of the Security Council for the month of October. I can assure you of the Niger’s readiness to provide you with all the support you need in carrying out your challenging task. I would like to thank Ms. Martha Pobee, Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, Mr. Tanguy Gahouma- Bekale, former Chair of the African Group of Negotiators on Climate Change, and Mr. Patrick Youssef, Regional Director for Africa of the International Committee of the Red Cross, for their excellent briefings. The Niger thanks Gabon for organizing this debate. If its presidency of the Security Council chose to convene a debate on the security risks linked to climate change in Africa, it is because your country, Mr. President, like other African countries and beyond, is convinced that the upheavals suffered by our ecological environment have an impact on conflict situations and their resolution. For some island States, those threats are even life-threatening. Although Africa has contributed little to the phenomenon, it remains the continent that suffers disproportionately from the harmful consequences of such climate change, which affects the stability of many of our States. Indeed, when the unpredictability of rainfall, desertification, the scarcity of arable land, drought and the drop in water levels are combined, that has an impact on the economic and social life of the populations and leads to conflicts over access to such resources. When that situation is compounded by conflict, it complicates the resolution of the latter by undermining all efforts to achieve and build peace. That is particularly the case in the Sahel and the Lake Chad basin regions, which are marked by great fragility and exponential demographic growth against a backdrop of increasing insecurity. In that context, and as we have said before in this Chamber, climate change and conflict dynamics create a feedback loop in which the effects of climate change put additional pressures on the environment and conflicts undermine communities’ capacities to cope. As we can tell, the climate-security-development nexus is undeniable. Managing it effectively requires cooperative policies that are better adapted to these new challenges, which spare no country and constitute real threats to the peace and stability of States, as well as to the lives and livelihoods of future generations. That is why we must adopt a more global and concerted approach in our consideration of climate change, because it is only together that we will be able to tackle it. The fight against climate-related security risks will require us to change our behaviours and attitudes in the constant quest for a harmonious balance that can ultimately reconcile humankind and our living environment. The fight against the harmful effects of environmental degradation on peace and security is multidimensional and includes the protection and recovery of land and the rational management of natural resources. Essentially, we must create a basis for sustainable development that by meeting the needs of the population will also protect them from the propaganda of terrorist groups. As is often said, poverty and precarity make breeding grounds for violent extremism and terrorism. We believe it is essential to strengthen the Council’s capacity to understand the security-related impacts of climate change through a regular report by the Secretary-General, which should include a thorough analysis of current and future risks and action-oriented recommendations to enable the Council to fulfil its core peacekeeping and conflict-prevention mandates. Moreover, our understanding of the principle of unity of action at the United Nations means that the fact that it has one organ with the principal mandate for an issue should not exclude another of its organs from dealing with an aspect of that issue relevant to its own mandate. It was in that belief that during the Niger’s presidency of the Security Council in December 2021 we initiated and submitted for members’ consideration, together with Ireland, draft resolution S/2021/990, on the link between the effects of climate change and security. While we regret that the draft text was not adopted, despite the support of an overwhelming majority of Member States, we remain confident that our successors will bring those discussions to a successful conclusion. To conclude my remarks, at the strategic and operational levels, we hope to see the implementation of synergistic and coherent actions for greater resilience among our populations to climate shocks and emerging challenges, in the spirit of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. My delegation hopes that the twenty- seventh Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 27), to be held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, will lead States parties to reach agreement on the divisive issues in the negotiations, to which Africa attaches great importance. Such issues relate to the financing of climate policies and action on adaptation for and technology transfer to developing countries. It is high time that the promises made to developing countries for funding to strengthen their resilience to those shocks were finally fulfilled. The Niger fervently hopes that COP 27 will serve as a framework for the development of a strong momentum in favour of a resolute, concerted and global commitment to the fight against climate change and its harmful effects, which today hinder the progress of many of our States towards stability and prosperity.

I now give the floor to the representative of Ukraine.

As a member of the Group of Friends on Climate and Security, the delegation of Ukraine fully aligns itself with the statement delivered by the representative of Germany on the Group’s behalf. In my national capacity, I would like to thank our briefers for their substantive presentations. Ukraine welcomes today’s debate and expresses its appreciation to Gabon, as President of the Security Council, for convening it. The topic of today’s meeting goes beyond climate and security in Africa and concerns the welfare of all human beings. We live in a globalized world, where a natural disaster or an armed conflict, no matter how distant it may seem, inadvertently affects all of our lives. Ukraine is the key global supplier of wheat, sunflower oil and corn. One of the consequences of Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine is global food shortages. According to expert estimates, the lives of around 400 million people worldwide, mainly in Africa, depend on the export of Ukrainian food. The Russian aggression against our country has broken supply chains and aggravates the threats that Africa is currently facing owing to climate change. Food insecurity and poverty have increased as a result. Ukraine is dedicated to combating the negative impacts of climate change. We were among the first in Europe to ratify the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and ranked fourth out of 45 States parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in terms of emissions reductions. Ukraine has pledged to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 65 per cent by 2030 and to achieve climate neutrality by 2060. We urge the entire global community, States and civil society, businesses and all human beings to switch to a pro-Earth way of thinking without further delay. We believe that it is long past time to consider the entire planet as our common home. The challenges Africa is facing today should leave no one indifferent. We fully support the African Union’s Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want. In that regard, it is particularly important to continue assisting African countries in achieving their commitments and meeting the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals. However, none of our ambitious goals within the United Nations can be achieved until the war of aggression is stopped. It is distracting us and taking away our resources, which is ruining our big ideas. We are strengthening our focus on relations with Africa. An ambitious strategy for the development of Ukraine’s relations with African States has been approved. We have been intensifying our dialogue with every country on the continent, including on climate policy. We believe that support for African countries is vital. Despite fighting the ongoing aggression, Ukraine is providing such support and will continue to do so, most recently through our decision to provide 50,000 tons of wheat as humanitarian aid to Ethiopia and Somalia. We remain ready to take action in favour of our common interests.

I now give the floor to the representative of Poland.

Let me start by thanking you, Sir, for convening this important debate, as well as the briefers for their valuable contributions. We welcome the Security Council’s continued attention to climate and security. We also warmly welcome Gabon as the newest member of the Group of Friends on Climate and Security. Poland aligns itself with the statement delivered by the representative of Germany on behalf of the Group. Climate change endangers efforts to build and sustain peace. It exacerbates instability and functions as a multiplier of threats. It also undermines communities’ resilience and ability to respond to crises. We are all acutely aware that some regions of Africa are among those particularly exposed to the effects of climate change and are coping with multiple climate-related disruptions. Today I want to focus in particular on two aspects, climate-induced food security and investing in resilience to crises. The effects of climate change all too often destroy livelihoods, aggravate poverty and increase food insecurity, which in turn fuels radicalization and conflicts as communities compete for scarce resources. The international community should be particularly worried about the deteriorating food-security situation in Africa, which is witnessing increased weather and climate variability. Food insecurity is a complex challenge, as its key drivers include the effects of conflicts, instability, climate change and economic crises. Worryingly, the Russian war against Ukraine has made an already critical food situation in Africa even worse. It is a dire example of how a regional conflict can have global repercussions. The war has contributed to a sharp increase in fuel, fertilizers and food prices, as well as a disruption of supply chains. It places an additional burden on consumers and producers globally, but it is especially harsh when combined with climate change effects on food systems. My second point concerns resilience. Today the whole world faces the perfect storm of crises. Wars and conflicts continue to rage around the globe. Climate change affects stability and security in a number of ways, which makes finding solutions to conflicts even more challenging. The consequences of the coronavirus disease pandemic continue to hamper our economic ability to invest in resilience. Therefore, enhancing climate resilience in Africa is an urgent and persistent need. One aspect of resilience is to recognize and better understand the multidimensional relationship between climate change and peace. Poland argues that regional infrastructure investments should be seen as a primary tool for building resilience that can help to respond globally to those multiple crises, including climate change. In recent years, the Group of Friends on Climate and Security has successfully advocated for several Security Council resolutions acknowledging the detrimental effects of climate change in conflict- affected regions. Poland welcomes progress made in that regard, including the recognition of the effects of climate change, when considering a growing number of mandates for peacekeeping and special political missions. We are satisfied that the Council has incorporated climate change language in resolutions concerning peace operations, including those in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, South Sudan and Somalia. As climate change worsens and has far-reaching effects on stability in the world in the years and decades to come, Poland believes that investing in resilience and enhancing risk analysis and operational responses to climate shocks is critical. We are supporting many African countries through our development cooperation programme, Polish Aid, including on climate adaptation, the protection of natural resources and strengthening food security.

I now give the floor to the representative of Colombia.

We are facing the climate crisis, a common challenge of enormous proportions which, similarly to war, threatens the survival of the human species. Colombia, a global powerhouse for life, aspires to raise full awareness of the risks that climate change poses to international security, some of which are already materializing  — deepening inequalities, putting pressure on the natural resources on which the most vulnerable populations depend for their livelihoods, forcing them to abandon their places of origin and generating conflicts. The Sustainable Development Goals are a fundamental road map for mitigating the various causes of conflict with a view to achieving complete peace, not only in our country, Colombia, but throughout the world. We are therefore aware that the implementation and fulfilment of the Goals will make it possible to have a world that lives in peace and harmony. Colombia will stress reaching the most ambitious agreements possible to curb climate change in order to reduce the threat to international peace and security. To that end, we are confident that the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and the targets set out by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development are essential to achieving the Goals. In Colombia, climate change may jeopardize the livelihoods of rural families, indigenous communities and Afrodescendent populations  — groups that are especially vulnerable and that, as a State, we have committed to protect. Moreover, the crisis heightens the incidence of natural disasters, which increases the internal displacements of our population. We are therefore facing a profoundly regressive challenge that disproportionately affects the most disadvantaged, exacerbates inequalities and compromises food sovereignty. Rising food and energy prices are adding to the ongoing climate crisis, jeopardizing food security in Africa and other parts of the world. In the Horn of Africa, more than 36 million people are being affected by severe droughts, and more than 16 million have no access to water. Meanwhile, 345 million people around the world are facing acute famine, many of whom are in large parts of Africa, including the Sahel. The lack of access to resources has serious implications for peace and security and is a driver of displacement. Many African regions are today on the front lines of the war against the planet, and the world must act in solidarity, recognizing the particular vulnerabilities that each region of the developing world faces. Climate change adaptation contributes to international peace and security in both Latin America and Africa. We thank the Government of Gabon for convening this debate of central importance to the Colombian Government. I would like to finish by offering Council members a piece of the culture of my people, the Arhuaco, who live in the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta in Colombia. We say, “When I am sick, the Earth is sick. When the Earth heals, the Earth heals me.”

I now give the floor to the representative of South Africa.

We thank the Gabonese Republic for convening this important debate. We also thank the briefers for all their valuable contributions this morning. The ticking time bomb that is the climate crisis we face is certainly one of the most serious threats to our collective security. South Africa remains firmly committed to a collective, multilateral response to that existential threat, and we are redoubling our efforts at the continental and national levels to play our part in addressing the crisis. We call on developed countries to urgently honour their commitments to developing countries on climate finance, technology transfer and capacity-building to advance a critically urgent multilateral solution to the crisis that could offer us some hope of halting further damage and averting the worst possible scenarios, which will have apocalyptic consequences for us all. As the continent least responsible for the climate crisis, Africa also finds itself at the epicentre of the worst impacts of the crisis, experiencing extreme weather events, such as droughts, floods and cyclones, which cause enormous damage. In South Africa, we are still recovering from some of the worst flooding in decades, which caused untold damage and claimed upwards of 200 lives. Climate change impacts are costing African economies between 3 to 5 per cent of their gross domestic product. Despite not being responsible for causing climate change, it is Africans who are bearing both the brunt and the cost of the climate crisis. South Africa recognizes that extreme weather events, drought, water scarcity, food insecurity and desertification linked with climate change have the potential to increase the risk of violent conflict. That is the case both within sovereign States and across State boundaries. In Africa, there is also some evidence to suggest that that may be the case in parts of the Sahel, the Lake Chad basin and the Horn of Africa. In those specific instances, climate change is a threat or risk multiplier, escalating existing tensions and conflict by placing strain on already scarce resources. While it may be intuitive to assume that climatic pressures generally contribute to increasing the risk of conflict elsewhere, scientific evidence to support a more generalized conclusion of a direct causality between climate change and threats to international peace and security is still minimal. The potential peace and security ramifications that may arise from climate change are ultimately best addressed by devoting our efforts and resources to reversing climate change itself. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is a fit-for-purpose United Nations body specifically created to tackle climate change. Unlike the Security Council, it is representative of all Member States and abides by important principles, which include equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities. In conclusion, we look forward to the twenty- seventh Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to be held in Egypt, as an African-owned and implementation conference. It should result in balanced outcomes that address adaptation, mitigation and means of implementation. It should also agree on a concrete mechanism for loss and damage.

The representative of the Russian Federation has asked for the floor to make a further statement.

Accusations were levelled against the Russian Federation that distort reality. We have responded to them repeatedly, and therefore we will not spend time on them today. We would like to underscore that a number of States have once again demonstrated that they have been exploiting Africa and the African agenda. Contrariwise, the Russian Federation has not been exploiting Africa and has instead been listening to Africa. We stand ready to work with its agenda.