Climate change and a global city: the metropolitan east coast regional assessment

He also recalled Hurricane Sandy in 2012, which forced United Nations Headquarters in New York to close for three days. He also pointed to food security issues, noting that much global agriculture is concentrated on coastal plains and low-lying islands.

Drawing attention to the solutions proposed by the International Law Commission, he stressed: “People’s human rights do not disappear because their homes do.”Įchoing that, Csaba Kőrösi (Hungary), President of the General Assembly, stressed: “You don’t need me to tell you that the displacement of hundreds of millions of people is a security risk.” The new legal questions provoked by climate change-induced sea-level rises are at the very core of national and State identity. The legal and human rights impact of the phenomenon is broad, he said, underscoring that they require innovative legal and practical solutions. Naming the many world cities that will be affected as the waters rise - from Cairo to New York to Santiago - he called on the Security Council to build the political will required to address the devastating security challenges arising from rising seas. Noting the phenomenon’s impact on lives and livelihoods in regions and ecosystems around the world, from the Caribbean to North Africa to the river basins that lie at the foot of the Himalayas, he said this will lead to ever-fiercer competition for fresh water, land and other resources. The world will witness “a mass exodus of entire populations on a biblical scale”, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said as he painted an alarming portrait of the emerging global security crisis that rising sea levels portend. Speakers warned the international community that tensions are deepening as coastlines vanish, territories are lost, resources become scarce and masses are displaced, as the Security Council held its first ever open debate today on the impact of sea-level rise on international peace and security. Speakers Warn of Vanishing Coastlines, Endangered Nations, Forced Migration, Competition over Natural Resources

Climate change and a global city: the metropolitan east coast regional assessment