TEST SERIES 
Date : 15 Dec 2021
UN resolution linking climate change and security
Tags :Why in News?
- Russia vetoed a first-of-its-kind U.N. Security Council resolution casting climate change as a threat to international peace and security.
- India also voted against it.
- The draft resolution, piloted by Ireland and Niger, sought to create a formal space in the Security Council for discussions on climate change and its implications on international security.
What is the issue?
- The draft resolution piloted by Ireland and Niger was an attempt at bringing climate change on Security Council’s agenda.
- The UN already has a specialized agency, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change or UNFCCC, for discussing all matters related to climate change.
- The parties to the UNFCCC — over 190 countries — meet several times every year, including at a two-week year-ending conference like the one at Glasgow, to work on a global approach to combat climate change.
- The Security Council, on the other hand, exists primarily to prevent conflicts and maintain global peace.
- Objection by India and Russia.
- The opposing countries have been arguing that the UNFCCC must remain the appropriate forum for addressing all climate change-related issues, and claim the Security Council does not have the expertise to do so.
- It has also been pointing out that unlike UNFCCC, where decisions are taken by consensus of all the 190-plus countries, the UNSC would enable climate change decision-making by a handful of developed countries.
U.N. Security Council
- The United Nations Security Council is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, and approving any changes to the UN Charter.
- The Security Council has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.
- It has 15 Members, and each Member has one vote.
- five permanent members: China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
- Ten non-permanent members: Elected for two-year terms by the General Assembly.
- Under the Charter of the United Nations, all Member States are obligated to comply with Council decisions.
- It calls upon the parties to a dispute to settle it by peaceful means and recommends methods of adjustment or terms of the settlement.
Sources: The Indian Express
