(CNS): The UK minister with responsibility for the British Overseas territories, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, has said that climate change is not an abstract theoretical risk but a real problem that is “much graver than previously thought” and happening now, driving people from their homes, threatening sustainable development and trade while exacerbating conflict and instability. “Severe weather events that used to happen ‘once in a century’ now occur two or three times a decade, sometimes more often,” he told the UN Security Council Open Debate on climate change last week.

“Research by the UK’s Independent Climate Change Committee in collaboration with the China Expert Panel on Climate recently concluded that we have significantly underestimated the social and, indeed, the economic risk from climate change,” Lord Ahmad warned. “And of course this risk threatens us all. So it’s important we must all contribute to the solution, including through discussions, such as the important one we are having now.”

The minister said the UK is investing heavily to help vulnerable nations, but that “we must accelerate global action to meet the commitments we have made”.

He said the Commonwealth Heads of Government have reaffirmed their commitment to the Paris Agreement and pursuing efforts to limit the increase in global average temperatures to 1.5º Celsius above pre-industrial levels. But he said that countries must make better use of the climate-risk data available, consider all climate-related risks and invest in resilience.

“The UK will lead efforts on resilience ahead of the Secretary-General’s Climate Summit this year, collaborating with a range of actors, to launch what we hope to be genuinely transformational actions,” he said.

“Investing in preparedness to respond will, on average, halve… the cost of deploying humanitarian aid in the wake of a disaster. And it can also speed up crisis response by up to two weeks. Resilience also presents a huge opportunity to support employment, spread prosperity, which of course accelerates development, and ultimately enhances security.

“There is no doubt that climate-related security challenges are real,” Lord Ahmad warned. “They are here. They are now. We must work together to ensure the United Nations system is able to holistically consider climate risks in decision-making and most importantly, integrate them into mission planning and ultimately, into implementation.”