Britain pushing for Security Council climate debate

Britain is pushing the UN Security Council to discuss climate change to try to highlight its potential threat to global stability, government officials said yesterday.

Britain takes over the presidency of the United Nations next year and ministers believe the time is right, with the topic already top of the agenda at European Union and G8 summits, to take it to the highest level of the international forum.

Prime Minister Tony Blair and Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, both keen advocates of action on climate change, are behind the initiative.

"Climate change is one of the Prime Minister's top priorities," a spokesman in his Downing Street office said.

A Foreign Office official added: "We want to embed climate security as a foreign policy issue. We believe that climate change has the potential to exacerbate many of the global insecurities that underlie global tension and conflict."

Initial reactions have been cool from several members, including the United States, diplomats in New York said.

Developing nations such as South Africa are concerned the 15-member council is encroaching on issues on the agenda of other UN bodies, such as the 192-member General Assembly.

One envoy said the United States, which is criticised regularly for not curbing its carbon emissions, was "not enthusiastic" about a climate change debate.

To get the issue on the agenda, Britain needs the approval of the full council. The five permanent members are Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States. The 10 elected members are Belgium, Ghana, Indonesia, Italy, Panama, Peru, Qatar, Republic of Congo, Slovakia and South Africa.

Experts warn that by drastically diminishing resources in some of the most volatile parts of the world, climate change could also create potentially catastrophic tensions in such regions as the Middle East.

"Various habitats are going to become unviable for people and they are going to move," said Dan Smith, head of International Alert, a leading conflict resolution charity.