Mr. President,
Excellencies,
We commend Kenya and Norway for co-hosting this meeting and thank the briefers for their valuable presentations.
Mitigation remains key to reducing climate-related risks in the future. We need to mobilize now to deal with the future impacts of climate change on human security. Climate hazards contribute to displacing people and impact food security, which in turn threatens peace and security.
In order to address these challenges with regard to peacebuilding, we would like to emphasize the following points:
Firstly, climate and environment policies have to become more conflict sensitive and peace and security policies have to become more climate-sensitive. In this regard, we welcome the approach of the Peacebuilding Commission and the Peacebuilding Fund. Their work also demonstrates that women's participation and leadership are essential to better integrate these policies and must therefore be ensured.
Secondly, peacebuilding measures need adequate resources to anticipate and respond to climate risks. These risks need to be reflected in the mandates of peace missions. The capacity of UN staff to address peace and security implications of climate change should be strengthened. The climate advisors of the Climate Security Mechanism are a good example of how the UN-system can strengthen its capacities in this regard.
Finally, early warning systems can help anticipate extreme climate and weather events. Switzerland welcomes the fact that the recent Conference of the Parties on climate change emphasized the need to strengthen systematic observations and to achieve universal coverage of early warning systems. Switzerland is a major contributor to the Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems initiative, which provides a funding mechanism to address the needs of least developed countries and Small Island Developing States. It is also an area that offers opportunities for collaboration - indeed, local expertise should be used to enhance early warning efforts and be integrated into prevention and peacebuilding activities.
Thank you for your attention.