Protecting Natural Resources is Vital for Peace and Security
- Sundeep Waslekar
- Jan 24, 2017
- 1 min read
The changing of the guard on the 38th floor of the United Nations has taken place at a time when notions about peace and conflict undergo a subtle change. In particular, the role of resources – especially water – is getting the recognition it deserves, as António Guterres takes over from Ban Ki-moon as UN secretary general.
This recognition has been a long time coming. Both Ban and his predecessor, Kofi Annan, have argued for decades that protecting and sharing natural resources, particularly water, is critical to peace and security. But it was not until last November that the issue gained widespread acknowledgement, when Senegal – that month’s UN security council president – held the UN’s first official debate on water, peace and security.
Open to all UN member states, the debate brought together representatives from 69 governments. Together they called for water to be transformed from a potential source of crisis into an instrument of peace and cooperation. A few weeks later, Guterres appointed Amina Mohammed, Nigeria’s former environment minister, as his deputy secretary general.
Ronald Woan