Climate change 'threatens peace', UN official warns
Crises such as that in Somalia could be far worse as a result of climate change, Mr Steiner saysClimate change poses a major threat to future peace and security, a senior UN official has warned.
Achim Steiner from the UN Environment Programme said climate change would also "exponentially" increase the scale of natural disasters.
His comments followed a UN declaration of famine in parts of Somalia.
Meanwhile, Russia rejected a Security Council statement backed by Western nations which asserted the link, but later agreed to a weaker text.
The Russian envoy Alexander Pankin said he was sceptical about the implications of putting climate change on the security council's agenda.
Security Council members finally agreed to a text which spoke of the "possible security implications" of climate change.
'Exponential growth'Mr Steiner warned that an increase in the frequency of natural disasters across the globe could prove a major challenge in the coming decades.
He said recent crises, such as in Somalia, illustrate that "our capacity to handle these kinds of events is proving a challenge, particularly if they occur simultaneously and start affecting, for instance, global food markets, regional food security issues, displacing people, creating refugees across borders".
"Clearly the international community - if the scenarios in climate change for the future come true - will face an exponential growth of these kinds of extreme events," he added.
His comments came as the Security Council formally debated the environment for the first time in four years, with Germany pressing for the first-ever council statement linking climate change to global peace and security.
Diplomats said there were intense negotiations between Germany and Russia, which initially opposed any council action, before a statement on the issue was agreed to.
Speaking as negotiations were continuing, Mr Pankin argued that the move was unnecessary and opposed by many countries.
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