UNSC ARRIA FORMULA MEETING: STEPPING UP PREVENTIVE ACTION: FROM ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES TO OPPORTUNITIES FOR PEACE
8 July 2024
Statement delivered by Chargé, H.E. Ambassador Rebecca Bryant, Australian Mission to the United Nations
Thank you, Chair.
To secure and sustain peace, it is imperative that we collectively tackle climate change – our greatest existential threat.
Climate change and environmental degradation are increasingly threatening livelihoods, ecosystems, and stability.
As studies have shown, this can exacerbate drivers of conflict, leading to very real threats to global peace and security.
Australia’s own region, the Indo-Pacific, is home to some of the countries most vulnerable to climate change.
Climate change is the single greatest threat to the livelihoods and wellbeing of people in the Pacific.
Addressing this challenge requires a comprehensive approach, including strengthening climate resilience.
Australia seeks to support our Pacific partners through our International Development Policy, which acknowledges climate change as the greatest shared threat to all countries.
While recognising the importance of national and regional efforts, we also underscore the need for international action, including by the UN Security Council.
We encourage the Security Council to consider climate resilience in UN peacekeeping and special political mission mandates, including by incorporating climate change and disaster risk assessments, where relevant.
We further encourage the Security Council to utilise the Climate Security Mechanism – which leverages expertise across the UN system, and builds a common understanding of the linkages between climate, peace, and security – to inform the Council’s work.
Australia also recognises that women and girls often bear the brunt of climate impacts, because of prevailing and persistent gender inequalities.
We know, for example, that peace is more likely to be established and sustained when women are involved in conflict resolution and peace negotiations, including in situations of climate insecurity.
Australia is supporting networks of women peace mediators in Southeast Asia and in the Pacific – regions highly susceptible to climate crises and disasters.
We urge the Security Council to take tangible, concrete steps to address the adverse impacts posed by climate change, including its gender dimensions.
Australia will continue to support all ongoing and future initiatives, and encourages Council members to prioritise addressing this existential threat.
Thank you.