By Andreas S. von Warburg
A group of small islands nations in the Pacific Rim is lobbying at the United Nations to have the General Assembly, the parliamentary body of the world organization, approve a new draft resolution entitled “Security and Climate Change” (A/62/L.50), a document that recognizes climate change as a threat to the very existence of small Pacific islands like Palau, Kiribati, and Fiji.
To many in the developed world, those very islands are tourists’ paradises with exotic names and beautiful beaches. Climate change however, is threatening their very existence and could possibly cause a flux of new migrants, what many are now calling “climate refugees.”
The draft resolution presented to the General Assembly is based on the right of the world body under the United Nations Charter to call to the attention of the Security Council situations which are likely to endanger international peace and security and invites the Security Council to continue to address the threat posed by climate change to international peace and security which was first undertaken by the Security Council on 17 April 2007 but has not been addressed since then.
The leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum, meeting recently in Niue, committed their nations to advocate and support the recognition, in all international fora, of the urgent social, economic and security threat caused by climate change and sea-level rise. The leaders pointed to the urgency of the threat to the “territorial integrity” and “continued existence” of our island nations. President Tommy E. Remengesau of Palau, in a recent interview with the BBC, said that the threat of climate change has reached a point where “this issue does not have the luxury of time”.
Under the leadership of the Chair of the Pacific Small Island Developing States, H.E. Mrs. Fekita ‘Utoikamanu, Permanent Representative of Tonga, the Pacific Small Island Developing States have engaged in extensive consultations with member states to underscore the need for engagement by all bodies of the United Nations on the critical issue of climate change, and the security threats posed by attendant issues such as population relocation, ocean incursions, and the salting of food stocks and fresh water sources.
The draft resolution is co-sponsored by Fiji, the Maldives, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Seychelles, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu along with Australia, Austria, Canada, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Turkey.
To read more about the issue, please visit the website of Islands First, an organization dedicated to assisting Small Island States confront the threats of climate change.
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