UNSC Open Debate on Climate Change, Peace and Security;

Tuesday, 13 June 2023

Statement by Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj

Permanent Representative of India to the UN

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Thank you, Madam President.

Let me begin by congratulating the UAE for assuming the mantle of the UNSC Presidency, for the second time. We warmly welcome the presence of Her Excellency the Minister of Climate Change and Environment of the UAE.

Madam President,

We agree that Climate Change is the defining challenge of our times. The recent IPCC report underscored that human activities have unequivocally caused global warming, and vulnerable communities who have historically contributed the least to current climate change are disproportionately affected.

Vulnerable communities include those that are spread across conflict regions. For many of them, generations have passed in unending conflict. Conflicts in many of these regions, along with challenges associated in nation building are rooted in a colonial history of exploitation, and continue to be exacerbated often due to external influences.

Madam President,

There exists little scientific correlation or evidence of the impact of climate change on peace and security. Thus, any attribution of causes of conflict to climate change is nothing but oversimplification. 

Climate change is more about development, less about peace and security. Choosing to place this in non-mandated forums, especially those where all members do not sit on an equal footing, may undermine the larger cause of securing climate justice.

There exists an appropriate forum for climate change, which is the UNFCCC process where each member state has an equal stake. It’s a forum where the voice of the world’s smallest and most vulnerable nation threatened by climate change, carries an equal weight, with that of world’s greatest emitters.

We need to be cognizant of the fact that UN Security Council has been mandating peacekeeping operations in situations coming under the ambit of chapter VII of the UN Charter. Peacekeeping operations will be effective by being clear-eyed on their primary calling and not by delving into non mandated issues such as climate change.

Madam President,

We need to deal with climate change through transformative mitigation and adaptation. The scientific evidence in this case overwhelmingly reveals that current global financial flows to tackle climate change adaptation and mitigation are highly insufficient, especially in developing countries. We need to look at this aspect more seriously than discussing climate change in the Security Council.

We share the concern about the erosion of commitments on climate change, particularly on the scale of support to be provided to developing countries for tackling climate change. Finance, technology transfer, and capacity building are fundamental pillars of the Paris Agreement. There are efforts to double count, dilute, or divert resources in the garb of climate response. We are also seeing unilateral protectionist measures under the pretext of environmental concerns.

Accelerated financial support and addressing inequities in access to finance, including its costs, terms and conditions, will help address vulnerability to climate change. A global transformation to a low-carbon economy is expected to require investment of at least US$ 4–6 trillion per year. COP27 called upon developed countries to, inter alia, accelerate the development, deployment and dissemination of technologies. The loss and damage fund must see a decisive finalization at COP28.

India will always be a champion for real climate action and serious climate justice. We do hope that the deliberations of today’s meeting will provide an impetus for rendering the climate change debate more inclusive, more just and more action-oriented.

Thank you!

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