U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice this week issued a blistering rebuke of Russia, China and other countries that blocked the Security Council from adopting a statement linking the threat of climate change to international peace and security.
During the Security Council’s first formal debate in four years on the environment Wednesday, Russia was not swayed by Western nations led by Germany, this month’s council president, insisting that the 15-nation panel needs to respond to the effects that climate change has had on Sudan‘s Darfur region and in Somalia, where the United Nations say famine had struck two areas.
“We have dozens of countries in this body and in this very room whose very existence is threatened,” Rice said without naming the countries. “They’ve asked this council to demonstrate our understanding that their security is profoundly threatened.
“Instead, because of the refusal of a few to accept our responsibility, this council is saying, by its silence, in effect, ‘Tough luck.’ This is more than disappointing. It’s pathetic. It’s shortsighted, and frankly it’s a dereliction of duty.”
Moscow’s was “skeptical” about efforts to have the council address climate change, Russian envoy Alexander Pankin said, according to Reuters.
“We believe that involving the Security Council in a regular review of the issue of climate change will not bring any added value whatsoever and will merely lead to further increased politicization of this issue and increased disagreements between countries,” Reuters quoted him as saying.
India and Brazil, both temporary members of the council, also express reservations about getting the body involved.
The council “does not have the wherewithal to address the situation,” Indian Ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri said, according to Reuters.
Instead, the council settled on a diluted statement that expressed “concern that possible security implications of loss of territory of some states caused by sea-level-rise may arise, in particular in small, low-lying island states.”
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BRIC says piss off..as they should..this artilce is filled with lies..and rice is complicit..look at the tantrum she pulls when shit doesnt go her way..and note the link they are trying form with the somalian crisis and climate change..so..this is the worse drought there for 60 years..so what caused it to be worse 60 years ago if co2 is responsible for the drought now???
