While climate change exacerbates conflict-causing tension, conflict, in turn, leads to pollution and ecosystem damage, the Security Council heard today, in a wide-ranging discussion on climate and security.
"Imagine a mother living in one of the most vulnerable neighbourhoods" of Haiti's capital, Maranatha Dinat, World Relief Haiti, told the 15-member organ. "Her home, already weakened by erosion, is flooded after heavy rains come. She is forced to flee with her children, crossing gang-controlled areas and unsafe roads to reach an improvised camp. This is the reality for thousands of Haitian families," she said. When hurricanes tear off roofs, rising waters flood the plains or droughts dry out the hills, "it is always the same displaced or marginalized families who pay the highest price", she added.
"In a country where much of the population depends on subsistence agriculture, every climate shock becomes both a humanitarian emergency and a driver of instability," she added. The international community must recognize that "Haiti's environmental crisis is at its core also a human and security crisis", she said, calling for interventions rooted in community-based and ecological approaches, such as restoring ecosystems and nature-based solutions, promoting the sustainable management of natural resources, reducing risks and reinforcing local governance.
Also addressing the Council was Inger Andersen, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), who noted that today is also the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict. Outlining how "environmental damage caused by conflicts continues to push people into hunger, disease and displacement", she noted that the Gaza Strip has, since 2023, lost 97 per cent of its tree crops and 95 per cent of its shrub land, while in Haiti conflict has worsened soil and water contamination in lowland slums.
While climate-conflict pathways are complex, she said "climate change is not infrequently one of the peels of the onion". A 2024 World Bank study found that "most contexts affected by fragility and conflict also experience consistently drier, more severe drought periods". Increased rainfall can also make violent conflict more likely in certain settings, for example, through the targeting of rich agricultural areas by armed groups or States.
She also drew attention to the "yawning gap" in adaptation finance for conflict-affected countries. "Between 2014 and 2021, people living in severely conflict-affected countries received just $2 per capita in climate finance compared to $162 in more stable countries," she said. Stressing the need to support conflict-affected countries rebuild their national capacity for environmental management, she said the UN system can act as a trusted knowledge facilitator for this.
Offering a legal perspective, Charles C. Jalloh, Professor, University of Miami Law School and Member of the International Law Commission, called for a more coherent legislative framework to foster accountability for environmental harm caused by armed conflict. "The challenge is that much of the current international legal framework serves more like a patchwork of norms," he said.
While Articles 35 and 55 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions prohibit employing "methods or means of warfare which are intended, or may be expected, to cause widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment", he noted, the threshold for their application "is simply too high and too imprecise to fulfil in most cases".
Spotlighting various "soft law" instruments, he drew attention to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Guidelines on the Protection of the Environment during Armed Conflict, as well as the set of 27 principles on the Protection of the Environment in Relation to Armed Conflicts, adopted by the International Law Commission.
Several of those would be relevant in Gaza, including those that deal with the responsibilities of an occupying Power, and given the current ceasefire, those related to post-conflict restoration. He also encouraged countries to reflect these instruments in their national laws and prohibit severe environmental damage as a war crime.
When the floor opened, Francess Piagie Alghali, Sierra Leone's Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and Council President for November, speaking in her national capacity, reflected on her country's experience following its civil war. The decade of conflict led to loss of biodiversity in its forests and savannahs, the forced migration of wildlife and the abandonment of agricultural fields. "Our experience is regrettably not unique," she said. "From scorched-earth tactics to the long-term consequences of nuclear testing and the widespread use of explosive weapons in urban areas, history records the severe environmental toll of warfare." In Gaza, she noted, biodiversity and vegetation have been decimated, and tree crops, shrublands and food-producing land have been destroyed, heightening the risk of long-term desertification.
Denmark's delegate noted that, in Ukraine, the Russian Federation's war has ravaged ecosystems, polluted water sources and devastated critical infrastructure, threatening livelihoods and long-term stability. It has impacted Ukraine's ability to fulfil its traditional role as a major contributor to food security. The representative of the Republic of Korea spotlighted "the persistent targeting of water reservoirs and wastewater treatment plants, as well as disrupting access to clean water" - such as in Sudan by the Rapid Support Forces.
Guyana's delegate pointed out that peace-time military activities can be just as damaging to the environment. For example, critical minerals needed to manufacture advanced defence equipment are often mined in severely harmful ways. Pakistan's delegate voiced concern over the deliberate weaponization of shared natural resources. "A textbook example is the unilateral suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty by India earlier this year," he said.
Council members also highlighted examples of the multiplier effect of climate change. Greece's delegate said that, in Syria, the 2006 to 2010 drought devastated agriculture and forced thousands to migrate to cities - a dynamic that may have added to socioeconomic tensions preceding the 2011 civil war. "Climate and conflict are fast becoming the new coordinates of global security," he said.
Africa's unique natural environment and agriculture-based economic development model make it particularly vulnerable to climate change, China's delegate said. The Sahel and Central Africa have been plagued by climate disasters that increased food insecurity and amplified instability. The Council "can analyse the relationship between climate and security in the context of conflicts and hotspots on its existing agenda on a case-by-case basis", he suggested.
However, the representative of the United States said his country is committed to bringing the UN "back to basics", which in the Council means focusing on work directly related to the maintenance of peace and security. Noting that one permanent member is responsible for more than 26 per cent of global greenhouse-gas emissions and undercuts its global competitors - including by manipulating data - he noted that President Donald J. Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris Agreement because it unfairly burdened some countries while giving a pass to much larger ones.
The representative of the Russian Federation said climate and environmental issues are important, but must be addressed "at the professional, rather than propaganda level". Moscow has long rejected efforts to bring those issues before the Council, as the links between climate change and conflict-related environmental harms are not scientifically backed. Related measures may violate the principle of non-interference in States' internal affairs, he warned, adding: "It is an inappropriate narrowing of the [Council's] work."
Other speakers differed, with Slovenia's delegate stressing that the link between environment, peace and security must gain stronger traction in the Council's work. He said: "We cannot disregard facts simply because they do not align with our preferred narratives." Panama's delegate added: "Recognizing that the environmental crisis is a security risk that exacerbates humanitarian crises, undermines governance and generates potential conflicts is not a matter of political ideology or economic systems; it is a reality." He noted that the Council has heard this from those who suffer first-hand the consequences of conflict. It is also increasingly supported by the scientific community.
France's delegate said the Council must be informed in detail about the impact of climate and environmental crises in the most vulnerable regions. He called on Special Representatives mandated for this purpose to provide precise information during their briefings, and present targeted action recommendations, drawing on lessons learned from crisis contexts as diverse as the Sahel, South Sudan and Ukraine.
The representative of the United Kingdom highlighted the role of the Climate Security Mechanism. Strengthening analytics and early warning mechanisms is crucial, he said. Somalia's delegate urged the global community to strengthen the capacity of developing countries to deal with climate-related risks and shocks, provide support for early warning systems, provide financing, empower communities and promote locally owned sustainable development that addresses poverty, inequality and marginalization.
Algeria's representative said environmental harms being discussed today "are not mere abstract impacts, but a dark reality felt daily" in the poisoned water of Gaza, shrinking of the Lake Chad Basin and tragic wildlife loss across Africa. States must act diligently to end conflicts, tackle their root causes and mitigate their impacts. The Council can also do its part while still focusing on its core mandate of maintaining peace and security.
