Worldwide Emerging Environmental Issues Affecting the U.S. Military. September 2005 Report
Abstract
Environment and global warming issues were mentioned in several speeches delivered by Heads of State and Governments at the UN Summit, however it was not a dominant theme. There were calls to ratify international treaties designed to tackle environmental and global warming problems, and agreement was reached to create a worldwide early warning system for all natural hazards and improve the Central Emergency Revolving Fund to ensure timely relief. Leaders of small island states warned that unless aggressive action is taken to deal with climate change to protect small island states, their people will become environmental refugees due to rising ocean levels. The Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement were recognized as an important international framework for the protection of internally displaced persons. Environment was listed along with the International Criminal Court, human rights, and disarmament as an issue that was not addressed strongly enough in the 2005 World Summit Outcome. It could be a mistake to interpret this as a decrease in environmental interest. Much political energy was dedicated to UN Security Council reform and international lobbying to reverse the US initial position to delete the Millennium Development Goals. Although environmental issues were relatively less prominent in this final UN Summit document than in the previous one, it is likely that environment-related actions and regulations will go beyond the agreed document due to momentum of improving international environmental agreements documented previously in these reports.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2005
- Accession Number
- ADA528689