Anthropogenic Climate Change
As UN staffers would say, “it’s not the UN without the abbreviations and the fancy words”. True to its reputation, UN abbreviations, acronyms and fancy language warrant a google search from time to time given there can be so many and similar, and I find it bizarre.
Fancy word “Anthropogenic Climate Change” was mentioned as a cause of sea-level rise during the Security Council High-level Open Debate on “Sea-Level Rise: Implications for international peace and security”. Anthropogenic what? To be honest, I had googled to reconfirm what Anthropogenic Climate Change is because like most people in the world, we associate climate change as a natural phenomenon and not anthropogenic (caused by human activity).
We fail to realize that what is happening now with regards to Climate Change is because of us. We are the problem creators, we need to realize that our industrialization, urbanization, deforestation, pollution to name but a few to meet our desires/wants are the root causes of Climate Change today.
Climate induced sea-level rise inter alia has become a global issue given the non-discriminatory nature of sea-level rise even in developed countries. But why do we want to make it a matter of international peace and security? Or simply, why should we care? Well, because now more than ever, it is a matter of existence and human security for most nations and people.
As you read this, there are countries in the Pacific region that are literally sinking into the ocean due to sea-level rise. In my home village in Samoa, beaches that I went to as a child have been eroded or replaced with a seawall, leaving just land and sea.
Tuvalu’s Foreign Minister in 2021 addressed COP26 knee deep in the sea, to demonstrate to the world the reality that they are sinking.
Kiribati has a “Migration with Dignity” policy to allow their citizens the choice of migrating at their own will and time. The policy addresses the inevitable choice to be made in the face of cascading impacts of sea-level rise.
The sad reality is we are still taking our time to take action, we are still discussing the actions to be taken. Let’s hope it won’t be too late, as stated by H.E. Csaba Kőrösi, President of the General Assembly at the high-level debate, “sea levels will be 1 to 1.6 meters higher by 2100, according to the World Climate Research Programme. It means that in less than 80 years from now, 250 to 400 million people will likely need new homes in new locations.”
Whilst the high-level debate at the United Nations is good to see our Leaders taking action, it also has to be an all-inclusive forum. It must include all who are involved and affected, from governments, private sectors, CSO’s and individuals as we owe it to our children and future generations to try and fix the problems that we have created for them. Displacement of 250 to 400 million people will not only be a disruption of peace and security but a future humanitarian crisis for all among many more knock-on effects we cannot foresee.
As President Kőrösi rightly puts it, “we have enough crises on our plate” and we do not need more!
