Secretary of State Tony Blinken’s absurd remarks yesterday pressing the UN Security Council to take up the issue of climate change as the greatest threat to the planet did not go unopposed.
“To view conflict in poorer parts of the world through the prism of climate change would only serve to present a lopsided narrative when the reasons for the conflict are to be found elsewhere,” stated an Indian official, according to the Economic Times. Secretary (West) Reenat Sandhu of the Ministry of External Affairs says that viewing conflicts in poorer nations through the prism of climate change is not useful. Climate change is being discussed in a focused way at the UN through a variety of different agencies and mechanisms have been put in place for further action, she stressed. So, “picking one aspect of climate change, namely climate security, and dealing with it in this forum, which is not geared to tackle a multi-faceted problem of this nature, would not be desirable.” In any discussion of the issue of climate and security, she underscored, care must be taken “not to create a parallel climate track. We have to continue on the path of inclusive decision-making.” (https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/bringing-climate-security-into-unsc-discourse-has-potential-to-disrupt-nature-of-overall-discussions-india/articleshow/86459647.cms)
First Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian UN Mission Dmitry Polyanskiy said the U.S. was trying to “formalize the issue of climate change on the agenda of the Security Council,” and that “we have a question here. How efficient is this in terms of solving [the UNSC’s] existing tasks?” TASS reported him as saying: “We are convinced that persistent attempts to advance climate change to the UN Security Council agenda at all costs as a threat to international peace and security add a totally unnecessary political component to this already complicated and sensitive discussion. This approach may result in lopsided and inefficient proposals from the point of view of the strengthening of stability in the world,” he warned. His complete remarks are posted on the UN Mission website. (https://russiaun.ru/en/news/sc_230921)
