National security plans must adapt to avoid ‘new world disorder’, says UN climate chief

Stiell: ‘For any leader who is serious about security, climate action is mission critical, as climate impacts wreak havoc on every population and economy.’ Photograph: Adriano Machado/Reuters

National security strategies that fail to take account of the climate crisis are “dangerously narrow”, and will leave countries open to “a new world disorder” threatening famine and conflict, the UN’s climate chief has warned.

The warnings came as a draft of a key agenda for the Cop31 climate conference omitted to mention fossil fuels, and skewed instead to the interests of the Turkish hosts, such as waste management and tourism.