UN Security Council Simulation: The Impact of Climate Change on Peace and Security
During this UN Security Counsel meeting simulation carried out over multiple class sessions, delegations from Russia, France, the United Kingdom, China, the United States, India, Niger, Saint Vincent, and the Grenadines met to address the issue of climate change impacting peace and security, mediated by our UN Secretary General from Denmark. Myself and my partner represented China’s interests, emphasizing China’s recognition of the threats posed by climate change on international peace and security while stating our intentions to expand on China’s nationally determined contributions set in the Paris Agreement. This simulation included presentations from each delegation articulating their respective starting positions entering negotiations, formal discussions in private channels on Slack as well as in person in which delegations could collaborate and form alliances to assist each other in reaching a resolution that would reflect their interests, secondary presentations articulating each delegation’s position following those negotiations, and the creation of a formal UN resolution written collaboratively by all delegations and the UN Secretary General closing this meeting of the UN Security Counsel. As China, my partner and I intended to amplify the interests of developing countries while collaborating with members of the P5 to strategize solutions that would allow this. One of China’s successes in this simulation laid in the agreement upon our proposed creation of an additional governing body responsible for monitoring climate commitments, which allowed us to maintain our interests of avoiding the expansion of scope of the UNSC to include lawfully-bound climate commitments. China designed the structure of this body, and it’s formation was included in the final UN resolution. This experience deepened my understanding of the successes and limitations of the Paris Agreement, and helped to clarify the ways in which multi-lateral institutions like the UNSC can shape climate policy. Playing the role of China was challenging since their interests regarding climate policy are not as progressive as I would have hoped them to be, but this change of perspective was beneficial in understanding the feasibility of certain climate goals. Displayed below is China’s initial starting position, the final UN resolution, and a review memo of the simulation experience.
November 10, 2021 through November 29, 2021
