To say global warming is serious has become a politically
correct statement in this age. But some people have moved the issue
into the category of security.
The United Nations Security Council convened last week to
deliberate on climate change. Even retired US admirals and generals
have issued warnings that global warming poses a "serious threat to
America's national security" and the United States likely will be
dragged into fights over water and other shortages.
Similarly, the Pentagon alerted the world to the scenario that
military confrontation may be triggered by a desperate need for
natural resources such as energy, food and water rather than by
conflicts over ideology, religion or national honor.
The call for the international community to address climate
change is sensible, but sensationalizing it as an issue of security
is conspiratorial.
The Security Council is primarily responsible, under the UN
Charter, for the maintenance of international peace and security.
It is supposed to deal with threats to peace.
Under this UN definition the impacts of climate change on the
world are not a subject within the realm of the UN body.
Understanding how human activity modifies the atmosphere and
oceans governing our planet's weather is enormously difficult. The
subject has stretched some of the world's best scientific minds
while the calculations to decipher the variables are vast.
Scientific studies have found that climate change is a global
issue, as presented by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change.
The solutions to environmental problems must be found worldwide
rather than among a small group of countries such as the Security
Council members. It is understandable that the developing countries
have posed challenges to the Security Council's getting involved in
the issue of climate change.
The international community needs to pull together to improve
scientific research in predicting climate change, researching
nations' vulnerability to abrupt climate changes, and better
preparing to respond to climate change.
The issue counts on sensible research and consensus on solutions
rather than sensationalization.
(China Daily April 24, 2007)
