Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc attended and delivered remarks at an open debate of the UN Security Council (UNSC) on addressing climate-related risks to international peace and security, which was held in the form of video conferencing on February 23.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc addresses the UNSC debate from Hanoi (Photo: VNA)

This is the first time the Vietnamese government leader has attended and spoke at an event in the framework of the UNSC, which demonstrates Vietnam’s responsible role and contribution to the joint effort of the international community to respond to climate change, a leading global challenge at present.

In his remarks, PM Phuc underlined the grievous impacts of climate change on Earth – the shared home of human kind, which have placed great burdens on the political and socio-economic life of many countries. They have caused unemployment and poverty, affected the livelihood of hundreds of millions of people, and risked creating instabilities or exacerbating present conflicts in many countries and regions, thus threatening international peace and security.

He proposed that the UNSC, with its foremost mission being the maintenance of international peace and security, needs to galvanize collective and persevering efforts of the international community via four groups of measures to address climate-related risks.

PM Phuc said a comprehensive and balanced approach is necessary in handling the connections between traditional and non-traditional security challenges, particularly in addressing the root causes of conflicts, such as poverty, inequality, power politics and unilateral interference and coercion. “Strict adherence to the UN Charter and international law must truly become a standard of behaviour for countries in international relations,” he said.

The Vietnamese government leader asked the UNSC and the international community to allocate greater resources to support developing countries, least developed countries, small island developing states, and land-locked countries that are most detrimentally affected by climate change, and are also lacking expertise and resources, in order for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDG-2030), the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the Paris Agreement (COP-21) to be effectively implemented.

He hoped that the UNSC will continue to enhance its early warning capacity, and bolster its role in mediating, preventing and resolving conflicts in all regions, including through enhancing cooperation with regional organizations.

At the same time, PM Phuc stressed that in order to harmoniously manage the connection between climate change and security, it is necessary to continue upholding the principles of respect for the sovereignty, national ownership and principal responsibilities of states.

“The shared interests of communities and peoples, particularly vulnerable groups, must be placed at the heart of all national and global climate action strategies and plans,” he said.

PM Phuc took the occasion to affirm that active and effective response to climate change is both a major guideline and a strong political resolve by the Vietnamese Government. He stressed that Vietnam has made great efforts to fulfill its international commitments on climate change (SDG-2030 and COP-21).

“In this connection, we support all endeavours to address climate-related challenges at the UNSC and other multilateral forums,” the PM said, pledging that Vietnam will work closely with other ASEAN members and support the cooperation between ASEAN and the UN.  

Climate change-related risks to international peace and security is an issue drawing great attention at the UNSC. Since 2007, the UNSC has organized nine debates on the issue, with a statement of the council’s President adopted in 2011 on climate change’s impact on maintenance of peace and security.