Russia votes against draft UN resolution on climate
NEW YORK, UN. Dec 13 (Interfax) - Russia voted against a draft UN Security Council resolution on climate and security submitted by Ireland and Niger, the Russian Permanent Mission to the UN said in a statement on Monday.
"The penholders of the document were pushing it through without readiness to discuss the root causes of challenges that vulnerable countries face. It resulted in a split among the Council members. It is regrettable that the subject for the divide was climate which, by its nature, is a unifying agenda, as was demonstrated by the recent consensus achieved in Glasgow," the mission said.
"We fully share the concerns of the international community regarding adverse effects of climate change on the planet and contribute to global efforts to address these challenges, including in the context of achieving carbon neutrality of our economy by 2060," it said.
"The proposed document was coercing the Council to take a one-dimensional approach to conflicts and threats to international peace and security, i.e. through the climate lens. It was a generic proposal to establish this automatic link while neglecting all other aspects of situations in countries in conflict or countries lagging behind in their socio-economic development. We have to acknowledge that this course of action is not about caring for countries or for the lives of people that are faced with problems of climate change. Therein we see an attempt both to shift the blame towards the developing countries themselves and to gain leverage in the Council to impose a particular vision with regard to fulfilment of climate commitments and ultimately to initiate putting any country on the Council's agenda under the climate pretext since climate-related issues are felt all over the world," it said.
"As a responsible member of the United Nations and its Security Council, the Russian Federation along with India and China do not share such an approach imposed by the western nations that have already made a significant number of countries expecting assistance believe in it. We are striving for comprehensive solutions in mitigating the climate change. We recognize the range of complex and intertwined challenges, including the impact of climate change, natural disasters, poverty, poor local governance that is mostly rooted in the colonial past, and terrorism threats that are an intolerable burden for some countries and regions," the mission said.