Thirty-nine years have passed since Malta first held a seat as an elected member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). It returns as a member in a turbulent period with emerging challenges threatening international peace and security.
Since its establishment, the UNSC’s role has evolved to address an ever-increasing variety of such risks, at the forefront of which is the climate change crisis.
Increase in temperatures, harsher weather, and rising sea levels are but some of the struggles we are facing, displacing communities, creating geopolitical tensions and socio-economic instabilities, exhausting our humanitarian aid. The outlook is alarming.
Various states, including Malta, have sought to bring to the UNSC’s attention irrefutable scientific research demonstrating that the effects of human-induced climate change are just as menacing as the run-of-the-mill topics on the UNSC agenda.
Some states have argued that there are established UN processes on the environmental and sustainable development dimensions of climate change, such as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the UN General Assembly and ECOSOC.
Yet, the evidence linking the effects of climate change and human and global security is irrefutable and is desperately pleading the Security Council’s attention and, more importantly, its action.
During its term as president of the UNSC, Malta shall follow in the footsteps of other states, both permanent and elected members of the UNSC, in considering the effects of climate change as a global threat.
Yesterday, Malta organised a dedicated ministerial debate on the ‘Implications of Sea Level Rise as a Threat to International Peace and Security’.
Malta has a long-standing legacy at the UN of raising discussions on the protection of the sea. Back in 1967, Malta triggered the process for a new Convention on the Law of the Sea through the potent notable intervention of Malta’s Permanent Representative Arvid Pardo’s at the General Assembly.
In 1988, Malta’s initiative brought climate change to the agenda of the UN’s General Assembly for the very first time, leading to the 1992 climate treaty, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. Hence, it comes to no surprise that Malta is pushing the discussion on sea-level rise.
Certainly, sea-level rise is not the only devastating threat our ocean is facing. Its effects on all coastal states, especially the more vulnerable small island developing states, is ever more pressing and significant, with dire consequences particularly on the latter’s economies, already burdened and struggling to recover from the economic effects, the aftermath of the COVID pandemic.
Sea-level rise will lead to severe political instability as land territory is inundated- Ian Borg
Sea-level rise is a threat to global peace and security in itself. It will lead to the displacement of people from their homes, loss of territory, undermining coastal states’ critical infrastructure, with the possibility of wiping entire states off our maps. It is also a threat multiplier, exacerbating current risks such as food and water security.
Sea-level rise will lead to severe political instability as land territory is inundated. Consequently, threats to territorial integrity are a primary source of concern to international peace and security and, in turn, to the UNSC.
While it was difficult for UN Charter negotiators to foresee nature reacting to human actions’ altering climate culminating in a threat to territorial integrity, they did set a clear and overarching mandate for the UNSC to safeguard territorial integrity to maintain global and regional peace and security.
At a time when the various risks and threats to global peace and security seem more challenging and divisive as ever, Malta will provide an opportunity for an open and transparent dialogue that will build upon previous endeavours at the UNSC on climate and security.
As a guest speaker at one such event in 2021, David Attenborough stressed for a more constructive and tangible engagement by the UNSC with the most inclusive participation of women and youth, and a broadened understanding of the link between climate and conflict as well as food insecurity, land degradation and displacement.
Tackling sea-level rise, as a direct consequence of human-induced climate change, requires a multi-dimensional approach which is not only embedded in environmental norms and principles, but extends its implications and required course of action to international peace and security.
In view of the effects of climate change on the continuation or escalation of conflict, the UNSC needs to therefore properly consider and address these security implications in its work. Malta will strive to advance the current discussion on sea-level rise, while building on the strong evidence-based approach to climate-security threats in the peace and security agenda.
Climate-related security risks are a daily reality for millions of people as eight out of the 10 largest peace operations are active in countries highly exposed to climate change. As action is required to keep the Paris Agreement targets within reach, situations of severe weather phenomena, floods and droughts, large-scale displacement and deepening of gender equality, will inevitably lead to escalation of social tensions with the risk of undermining national, regional and global security.
Addressing the climate crisis requires the inter-state cooperation, on a scale far greater than that which has been forthcoming. The threat is real. It is now. And it is against us all. We must act. And above all, we the nations must act unitedly.
Ian Borg is Minister for Foreign Affairs.