Security Council skips date with history


I’ve been baffled why yesterday’s two big UN stories have by and large been reported separately. Surely the UN spin doctors would seize on the declaration of famine in Somalia as a weapon to bang heads together in the rare Security Council debate on the threat posed to peace by climate change.

But this didn’t happen and the motion was watered down. I was therefore surprised to find that, in his press conference, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon went out of his way to stress the connection between the two events.

He warned that the prevention of future famines was a complex process. “But there is an overarching issue,” he said. “Climate change and sustainable development which is what I have been speaking about today in the Security Council. These are the defining issues of our time.”

Once again Mr Ban gets it spot on, but somehow fails to make the politicians and media sit up and listen.

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this post was first published by OneWorld UK