Fiji’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Peter Thomson, on behalf of the Pacific small island states delivered a statement at the United Nations Security Council during its open debate on the subject-Interdependence of Security and Development.
While emphasising on the nexus between security and development, Ambassador Thomson said that development provided countries with increased resilience to, and greater capacity to cope with political, economic, or environmental shocks.
On the other hand, the impacts of global unsustainable development can also weaken resilience to external shocks and thereby threaten security. He also told the meeting that small island states could not cope with global shocks alone owing to their particular vulnerabilities, including unique geographies and lack of both technical capacity and larger diversified economies.
He further said the adverse impacts of climate change posed the greatest shock risk and the most imminent threat to the development and security of small island states.
Rising waters levels, more intense storms, local and global food shortage and fresh water scarcity endanger many island states.
To mitigate the prospects of conflict and insecurity, he urged the UN Security Council, as the body holding ‘primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security’ to urgently address the security implications of climate change.
In his conclusion, Ambassador Thomson endorsed the statement of the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the meeting that the UN should focus more on climate change – security – development nexus and that managing climate risk is necessary to achieve security.