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UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL
17 April 2007
Open debate on energy, security and climate
Statement by H.E. the Hon. Robert Hill
Ambassador and Permanent Representative
of Australia to the United Nations
(As delivered)
Climate change is a serious global challenge for the future. Over coming decades, climate change will progressively alter biospheres and sea levels, as well as add incrementally to the intensity of climate-related events, such as cyclones and droughts. By moving early to address the risks, we could do much to reduce potential threats to human well-being and security.
Australia is particularly vulnerable to climate change. We occupy the driest inhabited continent with a highly variable climate and great susceptibility to drought. Shifting rainfall patterns in particular have severe environmental impacts in Australia and damage our agricultural industries.
Global action to mitigate climate change can temper its future impacts. The burden of responsibility falls particularly heavily on the major emitters. Twenty countries are responsible for 80 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Australia is committed to playing its part. We have already dedicated billions of dollars to develop, prove and deploy low-emissions technologies in Australia. We are supporting more efficient energy use, the uptake of renewable energy and reductions in land clearing. As a result of these and other policies and measures, Australia is tracking well to meet the target it agreed to at Kyoto.
Australia is a founder and major contributor to the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, which aims to develop and spread low-emissions technologies and practices through practical public-private action.
We will work with others, through our recently announced Global Initiative on Forests and Climate, to reduce deforestation, which is a source of some 20 per cent of global greenhouse emissions. Australia has pledged A$ 200 million as part of this Initiative.
Australia will also look to other global opportunities to make progress. Our Prime Minister has written to his counterparts in the Asia-Pacific region to put clean development and climate change at the top of the agenda for this year’s meeting of APEC leaders in September in Sydney – the APEC economies account for 60 per cent of global energy demand, and include the world’s four largest energy consumers.
And we will do more in the future, working internationally in the interests of more effective global mitigation action on climate change. This action must involve all of the major economies. In the actions we take, we must avoid disruption to energy supply, as reliable energy trade is vital to energy security and political security more generally.
Madam President
A degree of climate change is already inevitable. Action to adapt to the impacts of global warming in coming years is therefore vital if we are to reduce our exposure to the risks implicit in a changing climate.
The anticipated regional variations in these impacts demand that adaptation measures are tailored and localised. For example, Australia has already committed $10 billion to improving the sustainability of water use in Australia and, just last week, the Prime Minister announced an initiative to establish a National Centre for Climate Change Adaptation, primarily to study the coastal, regional and atmospheric impacts of climate change in our country.
We will also help others to adapt to the future impacts of climate change, cognisant that the least developed among us are likely to be less able to respond to the impacts of a changing climate. Australia therefore welcomes the multilateral support that the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) brings to adaptation.
Madam President
Our world is dynamic and challenging. Natural disasters have the potential to devastate communities and can threaten the very viability of countries, particularly small island States. Each year, more than 200 million people are affected by disasters, such as earthquakes, tsunami and pandemics. These disasters are unrelated to climate change, but they do highlight the vulnerability to environmental impacts that all countries face. For this reason, improving resilience to climate-related and other natural disasters must form an integral part of national development strategies.
We encourage all countries to further strengthen their support to disaster mitigation, preparedness and response. We commend the work of the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction in coordinating the implementation of the Hyogo Framework for Action. This framework represents a global blueprint for building the resilience of nations and their communities to the impacts of disasters.
Madam President
This is a different sort of threat to that usually debated in this place. Nevertheless, a failure to act now on climate change would exacerbate the risks in the future, and so a concerted and intensified commitment to both mitigation and adaptation is warranted. The challenge is to find ways to achieve these goals in a manner that supports economic growth, that is fair and effective, and that recognises economic disparities. It is in all our interests that we meet this challenge together.