(United Nations) Russia on Monday, at the United Nations Security Council, vetoed a draft resolution by Niger and Ireland establishing a generic link between global warming and global security, supported by a majority of UN members.
The text, which was favored by 12 of the 15 members of the Council, called on UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to “integrate climate-related security risks as a central element in overall strategies to prevent climate change. United Nations conflicts ”.
India, without the right of veto, also voted against, judging that global warming is not linked to a problem of international security, but of economic development. China abstained.
The resolution also demanded from the UN chief a report within two years “on the implications for security. […] adverse effects of climate change ”on the files managed by the Council, and recommendations on how these risks can be addressed. A request to appoint a dedicated emissary was recently withdrawn by the drafters of the text in order to promote acceptance from Moscow.
For several diplomats speaking on condition of anonymity, Russia’s opposition remains incomprehensible in the face of a “resolution which was not revolutionary,” said one of them.
Irish Ambassador to the UN, Geraldine Byrne Nason, stressed Monday before the vote that the draft text was “a modest first step”. “We need to better understand this link” between climate and security “and we must examine it globally,” she said. His counterpart from Niger, Abdou Abarry, denounced after the vote the “myopia” of opponents to the proposed text.
In the Security Council, where the United States has so far shown little initiative and counterweight to Russia under the administration of Joe Biden, Moscow leads the dance by using often and without qualms its veto right, often followed by China, on multiple issues: Ethiopia, Libya, Sudan, Central African Republic, Mali, Bosnia …