After UNSC Disappointment, African Union Picks up the Climate-Security Baton

Dec 21, 2021 | Janani Vivekananda and Claudia Zwar
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Many were disappointed last week when Russia vetoed an historic United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution that would have formally recognised climate change as a threat to peace and security at the global level. On the same day, however, the African Union’s (AU) own Peace and Security Council (PSC) released a communique on the theme of climate change, peace and security, which highlighted how climate impacts can aggravate conflict and called for an “informed climate-security-development nexus”. The statement from the AU PSC demonstrates that although the UNSC resolution was overturned, action will continue on this issue, driven by actors most affected by climate security risks.