Climate and Security Resolution: Explanation of Vote, Following Its Veto

Thank you Mr. President,

We thank the co-chairs for their steadfast efforts as well as the steadfast support registered by the wider UN membership for the resolution.

Kenya is disappointed at the decision of a veto. We believe that the importance of this measure can still enjoy progress on the basis of consensus. We are ready for further efforts in this regard.

Seeking a Security Council product on climate change and security is an important milestone. In the coming years, and decades, the Council will have to deal with threats to international peace and security that are importantly shaped by the effects of climate change.

Kenya voted for this resolution but did not co-sponsor it. Not because we do not support its aim, but because we are profoundly convinced of the importance of taking JUST action on climate change.

Our desire was for the resolution to succeed, and we engaged in the negotiations in robust fashion.

Our reticence comes from analyzing that there is a profound risk in the passing of this resolution without consensus.

In the coming years, it will be built on and it is crucial that further efforts correct its course. For the record, we want to be clear on our reasoning.

We have listened carefully to the resolution's detractors. Even while disagreeing with some of their points, we believe there were important arguments made that could have been included.

In addition, we sought consensus because it has been the primary mode of decision-making in regard to climate change action. It underpins the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement.

At COP-26 in Glasgow, our need to embrace consensus meant that we, as part of Africa, had to swallow a bitter pill as previous commitments on climate change action were reversed.

The commitments made by countries whose economies have been the primary cause of climate change were dialled back.

Dangerous obstacles to energy access and development were put in the path of developing countries that are suffering most disproportionately from climate change.

Despite this, we embraced consensus and agreed to an outcome that while deeply dissatisfying, at least kept the process alive.

It must be said that our disappointments at the reversals in Glasgow were supported by some of the very members of the Security Council who are the strongest supporters of this resolution.

It leaves us to now wonder what has changed between Glasgow and the Security Council chamber. What is it that they hope will be achieved on climate change in the Security Council beyond the UNFCC?

We must also recall the Council's consistent resistance to taking ambitious action to enable UN support for African missions to effectively respond to escalating terrorism threats in regions such as the Sahel.

On the one hand you have resistance to just climate change action, on the other to bold action against terrorism. Yet there is seeming enthusiasm for a resolution on the combination of climate change and security.

If climate change is indeed the "code red for humanity", and certainly in the shorter term to members such as the Small Island Developing States, it will be a fundamental challenge to peace and security.

We hope that future work on this resolution will focus as much on the countries impacted by climate change as those with the leading role in causing it.

As the Council seeks to undertake actions to resolve wars escalated or even caused by the effects of climate change, we call on it to have the moral courage to also deal with the major emitters.

We look forward to the Security Council reforms that may one day ensure that countries disproportionately affected by climate change are represented by permanent or veto-wielding members.

Kenya will continue to champion advancing the climate and security nexus. Our delegation, as co-chair of the informal group on climate and security, in 2022, will do the utmost to enable discussions that embrace balance, consensus and ambition.

We will also advocate for it to enjoy more comprehensive science-policy interface in the work by UNEP, in the hope that it enjoys a consensus that enables clear commitments and actions.

I thank you Mr. President.