Climate assertion at UN

• A contentious proposal for the UN Security Council to debate on climate change-related problems was rejected, After veto-wielding Russia and India voted against it.
• The resolution, which had been pushed by Ireland and Niger for several months, aimed to create a formal space in the Security Council for debates on climate change and its consequences for international security.

The Proposal

• Several European nations, led by Germany, have pushed for the Security Council to play a role in climate change debates, claiming that climate change has an international security dimension.
• Food or water scarcity caused by climate change, loss of habitat or livelihood, or migration can worsen or even generate new conflicts.
• This might have ramifications for UN field missions that are deployed across the world to maintain peace.

UNSC and climate change

• Several European nations, headed by Sweden and the Netherlands at first, began to work towards incorporating climate change's security consequences into the Security Council's work.
• The same year, a UN visiting team in the Lake Chad region heard from the Nigerian President about how the depletion of Lake Chad, a direct result of climate change, has aided the growth of Boko Haram.
• The president informed the team that the lake had lost 90% of its surface area since the 1960s, destroying local families' livelihoods and providing fertile ground for Boko Haram to thrive. According to the study paper, the Nigerian President's story had an effect on some UNSC members.

The objections

• The opposing nations argue that the UNFCCC should continue to be the right platform for dealing with all climate-related concerns, and that the Security Council lacks the expertise to do so.
• Unlike the UNFCCC, where decisions are made by consensus of all 190+ nations, the UNSC would allow a small group of rich countries to make climate change choices.
• Despite the fact that the proposed resolution is claimed to have the support of more than 100 countries, Russia claims that many underdeveloped countries backed it in the hopes of receiving funding to combat climate change.

Future Aspects

• There is no genuine need for this resolution other than to bring climate change under the purview of the Security Council, and the reason for that is that decisions may now be made without the participation of most developing countries and without acknowledging consensus.""
• ""Today, climate change decisions are being sought to be pulled out of the UNFCCC and given instead to the Security Council, despite the fact that many UNSC members are the primary contributors to climate change owing to previous emissions.""
• If the Security Council does truly assume responsibility for this issue, a few governments will have complete control over all climate-related decisions. Clearly, this is neither desired nor acceptable.
• The UNFCCC should continue to be the right platform for dealing with all climate-related concerns since decisions are made by consensus of all 190+ nations leading to common consensus rather than being exposed to limited countries.

Terms related to climate change

• NET ZERO: A condition in which the amount of glasshouse gases released into the atmosphere is balanced by their removal through processes like photosynthesis or physical Removal by use of futuristic technology .
• MITIGATION: A human effort to minimise greenhouse emissions or enhance the sinks of greenhouse gases.
• ADAPTATION: In Human Systems: The process of adjusting to existing or predicted climate and its consequences to mitigate harm or take advantage of good possibilities.
• In the Natural System:The process of adjusting to real climate and its impacts; human intervention may make it easier to adjust to predicted climate and its effects.
• NDC: Nationally Determined Contributions are targets set by individual countries to fight climate change.
• CLIMATE FINANCE: Local, national, or international finance (derived from public, private, and alternative sources of funding) that aims to assist climate change mitigation and adaptation measures.
• TIPPING POINT: When the global or regional climate shifts from one stable state to another, a critical threshold is reached.
• UNPRECEDENTED TRANSITION: The process of changing from one state or condition to another in a given period of time. Transition can be in individuals, firms, cities, regions and nations and can be based on incremental or transformational change.
• ABRUPT CHANGE: A large-scale shift in the climate system that occurs over a few decades or fewer, (or is expected to last) for a few decades, and produces significant disruptions in human and environmental systems."