Global warming, long the preserve of environmentalists and scientists, has finally reached the staid UN Security Council, which plans to consider how climate change could trigger increasing conflicts and famine, according to dpa. The 15-nation council this week set aside April 17 for its first debate ever on the effects of global warming on human security. Politics or government mismanagement are normally blamed for conflicts and human miseries. The British government, a strong supporter of limits on greenhouse gasses that are blamed for climate change, is using its turn in April to preside over the council to invite government ministers to attend the meeting. British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett is to open the debate at UN headquarters in New York. The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is in the process of releasing its fourth report in 16 years on global warming. On Friday, it is to release in Brussels a section on the impact of global warming on society, the environment and the economy. In February, it released the first part of the current round, which focussed on the science and found in more unequivocal terms than ever before that human activity has caused the massive buildup of greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide that trap heat beneath Earth's atmosphere. Britain's UN Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said concept papers were being prepared for the UN debate that would provide "the basis for Security Council discussion on the parts of climate change that are relevant to the work of the Security Council." Jones Parry said the council has no intention to encroach on the issue, which so far remains in the realm of scientists and timid government programmes to deal with its effects. He said discussion will focus on global warming's expected impacts on populations around the world which could trigger conflict. Environmental activists this week in Brussels demanded that developing countries - expected to be hardest hit and yet not among the major offenders - receive help in preparing for the dire consequences of increased flooding, drought, disease and booming insect populations. Jones Parry said flooding of land as a result of a rise in sea temperatures and the effects on agricultural products which in turn may cause famine or surpluses are factors that already exist in the world. But they could be made worse by a temperature rise. "The traditional triggers (for conflicts) are likely to be exacerbated by climate change," he said. Jones Parry said he would not expect the council to issue a statement or adopt resolutions at the conclusion of the debate. The exercise would be to raise awareness of climate change's impacts on issues of peace and security.
