Guest essay by Eric Worrall

According to University of Copenhagen professor Ole Wæver, if we don’t act soon the UN Security Council might have to take over and dictate climate policy to member states, just as the EU took control of Greece.

Could climate change become a security issue — and threaten democracy?

RN By Farz Edraki and Ann Arnold for Late Night Live

Action to address climate change has been left so late that any political response will likely become an international security issue — and could threaten democracy. 

That’s the view of Ole Wæver, a prominent international relations professor at the University of Copenhagen, who also says climate inaction could lead to armed conflict.

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When decision-makers — after delaying for so long — suddenly try to find a shortcut to realistic action, climate change is likely to “be securitised”.

Professor Wæver, who first coined the term “securitisation”, says more abrupt change could potentially threaten democracy.

“The United Nations Security Council could, in principle, tomorrow decide that climate change is a threat to international peace and security,” he says.

“And then it’s within their competencies to decide ‘and you are doing this, you are doing this, you are doing this, this is how we deal with it’.”

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“If there was something that was decided internationally by some more centralised procedure and every country was told ‘this is your emission target, it’s not negotiable, we can actually take military measures if you don’t fulfil it‘, then you would basically have to get that down the throat of your population, whether they like it or not,” he says.

“A bit like what we saw in southern Europe with countries like Greece and the debt crisis and so on.

“There were decisions that were made for them and then they just had to have a more or less technocratic government and get it through.”

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Read more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-03/climate-change-international-security-risk/11714284

Be good children, and follow the instructions of the climate professors, otherwise the United Nations is going to take your freedom away.