Beckett defends UN debate on climate change and conflict

The UN Security Council held a groundbreaking debate yesterday on the impact of climate change on conflicts, in spite of objections from developing countries that global warming was not an issue of international peace and security.

Britain holds the council presidency this month and organised an open meeting to highlight what the Foreign Secretary, Margaret Beckett, said was the "security imperative" to tackle climate change because it can threaten the entire planet.

The two major groups representing developing countries - the Non-Aligned Movement and the Group of 77 - wrote separate letters accusing the Security Council of "ever-increasing encroachment" on the role of other UN organs. Climate change and energy are issues for the General Assembly, where all 192 UN member states are represented, and the Economic and Social Council, not the Security Council, they said.

Pakistan's deputy ambassador, Farukh Amil, said the debate "compromises the rights of the general membership of the UN".

Mrs Beckett said she understood the reservations, but added: "This is an issue that threatens the peace and security of the whole planet, and the Security Council has to be the right place to debate it."AP

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