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Dutch FM calls on putting climate-related security risks on UN Security Council agenda

Xinhua, December 6, 2016 Adjust font size:

Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders said on Monday that water- and climate-related security problems belong to the agenda of the UN Security Council, and the Netherlands is committed to getting the subject on there in 2018.

The words came during the opening of the Planetary Security Conference 2016 in the Peace Palace here.

"Chaos, conflict and migration partly caused by climate change affect everyone. More and more people from countries stricken by conflict or drought look for safe shelter elsewhere," said Koenders.

"We notice this in Europe every day. If we want a safe world without forced migration, chaos and conflict, we must better anticipate the security implications of climate change and we can only make that happen if experts and policymakers work together at the highest level and come up with solutions," Koenders said.

Some regions can become even more unstable due to climate change, the minister emphasized.

"Structural droughts and excessive floods lead to a lack of income, which forces people to leave their country. It is important to improve the socio-economic position of the younger generation so that they do not have to go elsewhere to live nor seek refuge in terrorism," he added.

This is why the minister wants to get the subject on the agenda of the UN Security Council.

Dutch highest-ranking military officer, Chief of Defense General Tom Middendorp, said during the conference that there will be no stability without climate security.

"Millions of people are or will become victims," he said. "People need to start thinking green, and there should be new ecosystems. Climate change is already ongoing, we can not ignore the signs."

During the Planetary Security Conference, more than 300 security experts, climate scientists, and policymakers could jointly identify the security risks of climate change and come up with solutions to climate and security problems. Endit