Climate Change as a Threat to Regional Peace and Security and the Role of the UNSC: An India-EU Perspective in Context
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12797/Politeja.18.2021.73.07Keywords:
India, EU, United Nations, climate change, international policyAbstract
Climate change has increasingly come to be viewed as a security threat, as well as a ‘threat multiplier’. The impact of this has become a cause for major international concern, especially in light of national contributions to climate change, by virtue of heavy industrial dependence on polluting processes. To address this issue, certain national lobbies have suggested that the United Nations Security Council should be made legislate on the issue, given its bearing on international security. This approach has been supported by nations and blocs like the United States, the EU, the Pacific Islands, etc. An alternate lobby, comprising states like India, have argued against this approach due to the UNSC’s fractured mandate, and expressed their wish to keep deliberations more representative. This paper shall evaluate the context of climate change, the legal principles underlying it, and argue in favor of the Indian stand that the UNSC is not the appropriate institution to make policy decisions on this matter.
Downloads
References
Adam D., “Food Prices Threaten Global Security – UN”, The Guardian, 9 April 2008, at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/apr/09/food.unitednations.
Aminzadeh S.C., “A Moral Imperative: The Human Rights Implications of Climate Change”, Hastings International and Comparative Law Review, vol. 30, no. 2 (2007), at https://repository.uchastings.edu/hastings_international_comparative_law_review/vol30/iss2/4.
Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC), Background Paper. Human Rights and Climate Change, Sydney 2008.
“At UN, India Questions Rush to Declare Climate Change a Security Issue”, Business Standard, 26 January 2019, at https://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/india-questions-rush-to-declare-climate-change-international-security-issue-119012600120_1.html.
Bangalore M. et al., Shock Waves: Managing the Impacts of Climate Change on Poverty, Washington, DC 2015, https://doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-0673-5.“Billions of Dollars Lost to Climate Change This Year”, Pune Mirror, 2019.
Brown O., “Migration and Climate Change”, International Organisation for Migration Research Series, vol. 31, (2008), at https://olibrown.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/2008-Migration-and-Climate-Change-IOM.pdf. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18356/5ab20a38-en
Buzan O., Waever O., de Wilde J., Security: A New Framework for Analysis, Boulder, CO–London 1998.
“Climate Change: Arria-Formula Meeting”, Security Council Report, 14 December 2017, at https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/whatsinblue/2017/12/climate-change-arria-formula-meeting.php.
Dodson J.C. et al., “Population Growth and Climate Change: Addressing the Overlooked Threat Multiplier”, Science of The Total Environment, vol. 748, no. 1 (2020), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141346. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141346
Epstein R., “UN Chief Warns of Civil Unrest Amid World Food Shortage”, ABC News, 30 April 2008, at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2008-04-30/un-chief-warns-of-civilunrest-amid-world-food/2420212.
European Commission, Supporting Climate Action through the EU Budget, at https://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/budget/mainstreaming_en.
European Commission, Climate Change and International Security. Paper from the High Representative and the European Commission to the European Council, Doc. No. S113/08,
March 2008, at https://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/reports/99387.pdf.
Fischetti M., “Climate Change Hastened Syria’s Civil War”, Scientific American, 2 March 2015, at https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/climate-change-hastened-the-syrian-war/.
“Summary for Policy Makers”, in German Advisory Council on Global Change, World in Transition: Climate Change as a Security Risk, London–Sterling, VA 2008, at https://www.wbgu.de/fileadmin/user_upload/wbgu/publikationen/hauptgutachten/hg2007/pdf/wbgu_hg2007_engl.pdf.
Greek Chairmanship of the Human Security Network, International Conference on Climate Change and Human Security, Athens, May 2008.
Huntiens P., Nachbar K., “Climate Change as a Threat Multiplier for Human Disaster and Conflict”, The Hague Institute for Global Justice – Working Paper, vol. 9 (2015), at https://www.thehagueinstituteforglobaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/working-Paper-9-climate-change-threat-multiplier.pdf.
“Idea of Climate Action Should not be to Move Climate Action Goal Post to 2050”, The Hindu, 24 February 2021, at https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/idea-of-climatechange-should-not-be-to-move-climate-ambition-goal-post-to-2050-india-at-UNSC/article33917380.ece.
IPCC, ‘Fourth Assessment Report’, Sir Nicholas Stern, The Stern Review on Economics of Climate Change, 2006.
Karak M., “Climate Change and Syria’s Civil War”, JStor Daily, 12 September 2019, at https://daily.jstor.org/climate-change-and-syrias-civil-war/.
Kelly C.P. et al., “Climate Change in the Fertile Crescent and Implications of the Recent Syrian Drought”, Proceedings of National Academy of Science, vol. 112, no. 11 (2015), pp. 3241-3246, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1421533112. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1421533112
King W.C., Climate Change: Implications for Defense. Key Findings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 5th Assessment Report, June 2014, at https://www.gmaccc.org/gmaccc-publications/climate-change-implications-for-defence.
Lytle N., Climate Change as a Contributor to Terrorism: A Case Study in Nigeria and Pakistan, University of South Carolina – Senior Thesis, Columbia, SC 2017.
Mabey N., Delivering Climate Security: International Security Responses to a Climate Changed World, Abingdon 2007.
Maguire R., “The Role of Common but Differentiated Responsibility in the 2020 Climate Regime”, Carbon and Climate Law Review, vol. 7 (2013), no. 4, pp. 260-263, https://doi.org/10.21552/CCLR/2013/4/269. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21552/CCLR/2013/4/269
Nasu H., “The Place of Human Security in Collective Security”, Journal of Conflict and Security Law, vol. 18, no. 1 (2013), pp. 95-129, https://doi.org/10.1093/jcsl/krs026. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jcsl/krs026
O’Dwyer G., “Norway Prioritizes High North Equipment”, Defense News, 4 March 2015, at https://www.defensenews.com/home/2015/03/03/norway-prioritizes-high-north-equipment/.
Podesta J., Odgen P., “The Security Implications of Climate Change”, The Washington Quarterly, vol. 31, no. 1 (2008), pp. 115-138, https://doi.org/10.1162/wash.2007.31.1.115. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1162/wash.2007.31.1.115
Press Release, UNSC, Security Council Holds First Ever Debate on Impact of Climate Change on Peace and Security, Hearing over 50 speakers, UN Press Release no. SC/9000, 17 April 2007, at https://www.un.org/press/en/2007/sc9000.doc.htm.
Principles of International Law Recognized in the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal and in the Judgment of the Tribunal, with commentaries, Yearbook of International Law Commission, vol. 2 (1950), at https://legal.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/commentaries/7_1_1950.pdf.
Rajamani L., “The Principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibility and the Balance of Commitments under the Climate Regime”, Review of European Community & International Environmental Law, vol. 9, no. 2 (2000), pp. 120-131, https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9388.00243. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9388.00243
Saul B., “Climate Change, Conflict and Security: International Law Challenges”, New Zealand Armed Forces Law Review, 7 October 2009, pp. 1-21.
Selby J. et al., “Climate Change and the Syrian Civil War Revisited”, Political Geography, vol. 232, no. 60 (2017), pp. 232-244, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2017.05.007. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2017.05.007
Scott S.V., “Climate Change and Peak Oil in Threats to International Peace and Security: Is It Time for the Security Council to Legislate?”, Melbourne Journal International Law, vol. 9, no. 2 (2008), pp. 495-502.
Scott S.V., Ku Ch., Climate Change and the UN Security Council, Cheltenham–Northampton, MA 2018, https://doi.org/10.4337/9781785364648. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781785364648
Smith D., Vivekananda J., A Climate of Conflict: The Links between Climate Change, Peace and War, London 2007.
Tandon A., “New Climate Model Suggests Faster Melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet”, Carbon-Brief, 15 December 2020, at https://www.carbonbrief.org/new-climate-models-suggestfaster-melting-of-the-greenland-ice-sheet.
The Centre for Climate and Security, International Military Council on Climate and Security, at https://climateandsecurity.org/imccs/.
Townsend M., Harris P., “Now the Pentagon Tells Bush: Climate Change Will Destroy Us”, The Guardian, 22 February 2004, at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2004/feb/22/usnews.theobserver.
United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, 3-14 June 1992, U.N. Doc. A/CONF.151/26/Rev.1, vol. I, annex II, at https://undocs.org/en/A/CONF.151/26/Rev.1(vol.I).
United Nations General Assembly Official Records, Follow-up to the Outcome of the Millenium Summit, 59th Session, Doc. No. A/59/565, 2 December 2004, at https://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/gaA.59.565_En.pdf.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The Human Rights Impact of Climate Change, U.N. Joint Press Kit for Bali Climate Change Conference, 3-14 December 2007, at https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Press/HumanRightsImpactClimateChange.pdf.
United Nations Peace Building, Climate Change Recognized as ‘Threat Multiplier,’ UN Security Council Debates Its Impact on Peace, 2019, at https://www.un.org/peacebuilding/news/climate-change-recognized-%E2%80%98threat-multiplier%E2%80%99-un-security-councildebates-its-impact-peace.
United Nations Security Council, Security Council Resolution no. 2253, 17 December 2015, at https://www.undocs.org/S/RES/2253%20(2015).
United Nations Security Council Official Records, 60th Session, 5220th meeting, Doc. No. S/PV.5220, 30 June 2005, at https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/552418.
Ullman R.H., “Redefining Security”, International Security, vol. 8, no. 1 (1983), pp. 129-153, https://doi.org/10.2307/2538489. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2538489
US National Intelligence Council, Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World, Washington DC, 2008, at https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/94769/2008_11_global_trends_2025.pdf.
Vidal J., “Nations Split on Ways to Tackle Hunger Alert”, Sydney Morning Herald, 17 April 2008, at https://www.smh.com.au/world/nations-split-on-ways-to-tackle-hunger-alert-20080417-gds9us.html.
Warren D., Climate Change and International Peace and Security: Possible Roles for U.N. Security Council in Addressing Climate Change, New York, NY 2015.
Watts J., “Indonesia Announces Site of Capital City to Replace Sinking Jakarta”, The Guardian, 26 August 2019, at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/26/indonesia-new-capital-city-borneo-forests-jakarta.
Werrell C.E., Femia F., Sternber T., “Did We See It Coming? State Fragility, Climate Vulnerability, and the Uprisings in Syria and Egypt”, SAIS Review of International Affairs, vol. 35, no. 1 (2015), pp. 29-46, https://doi.org/10.1353/sais.2015.0002. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/sais.2015.0002
Wisner B. et al., Climate Change and Human Security, Peace Research and European Security Studies, International Institute for Strategic Studies, 2007, at http://www.disasterdiplomacy.org/cchswisneretal.pdf.
Yalowitz K.S., Collins J.F., Virginia R.A., The Arctic Climate Change and Security Policy Conference.
Final Report and Findings, Hanover, NH 2008, at https://carnegieendowment.org/files/arctic_climate_change.pdf.
Youngs R., Climate Change and European Security: An Unmet Challenge, London 2014, https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315757254. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315757254
Zhang D.D. et al., “Global Climate Change, War, and Population Decline in Recent Human Rights”, Proceedings of the National Assembly of Sciences of the USA, vol. 104, no. 49 (2007), https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0703073104. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0703073104
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.