UK Forces Climate Talks at U.N.

Posted on Apr 17, 2007

Over the objections of other members, the UK has brought the climate change debate to the U.N. Security Council. Russia, China and Pakistan said it was the wrong venue for the issue, but U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett pointed out that rising sea levels, mass migration and economic catastrophe would almost certainly impact global security.

Interestingly, Britain drew support from other island nations represented on the panel. Maybe that’s the key to the climate debate—force oil giants to headquarter in the Maldives, then we’ll see how they feel.

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BBC:

The British mission to the UN circulated a paper explaining why it feels a discussion is needed.

It warns of “major changes to the world’s physical landmass during this century”, which will cause border and maritime disputes.

Some 200m people could be displaced by the middle of the century and “substantial parts of the world risk being left uninhabitable by rising sea levels”.

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