On July 8, Greece participated in the United Nations Security Council Arria Meeting on “Stepping up Prevention Action: From Environmental Challenges to Opportunities for Peace”.
‘Arria-formula’ meetings are informal meetings of the Security Council. They are convened at the initiative of a member or members of the Security Council in order to hear the views of individuals, organizations or institutions on matters within the competence of the Security Council.” The meetings provide a flexible procedural framework and are deemed highly informative.
July’s meeting was co-sponsored by the Republic of Korea, together with the Mission of Guyana and Sierra Leone and it was hosted by the Mission of Slovenia.
It focused on environmental degradation and security risks stemming from the climate crisis. It was highlighted that a nexus approach to climate, environment and security is not only necessary but imperative.
Addressing the meeting the Hellenic Mission emphasized the need to advance UN responses to climate- related security risks through enhanced multilateral cooperation and synergies. Greece becomes a non-permanent member to the United Nations Security Council for the years 2025/26. Two of its main priorities, maritime security and climate change mitigation convey the strong message that security is not an abstract concept and that the more we link it to natural resources management, the sooner we will achieve tangible results in peace-keeping.
Within this context, the Hellenic Mission underlined that in April, Greece took concrete steps towards climate change mitigation by becoming the host of the 9th Our Ocean Conference, a leading event with over 3,500 participants from 130 countries and international organisations, which concluded with 469 new commitments worth over an estimated $11 billion.