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Host (Sakshi Shree)

Our first speaker, Glaucia Boyer, serves as the UNDP Global Adviser on Reintegration, leading the work on transitions from military to civil life, traditionally known as Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR), and more recently, Prosecution, Rehabilitation, and Reintegration (PRR), and their linkages to UNDP stabilization, recovery, and peacebuilding pro1gramming. Please join me in welcoming Glaucia Boyer.

Glaucia Boyer

Thank you very much, excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, good morning, good afternoon, good evening to you all. It's with great pleasure that I welcome you all to this side event of the United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, organized by the Youth NGOs (YUNGO) Working Group on Climate, Peace, and Security. Today, we gather under the theme of "Climate Action for Peace: Disarmament in the Environmental Rights Agenda," a topic that resonates deeply with our shared commitment to a sustainable and peaceful future.

As a Global Adviser for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and serving as co-chair of the United Nations Inter-Agency Working Group on Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (the IDDRTG - Integrated Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Training Group), I am honored to address this distinguished gathering, particularly our youth organizations who play a fundamental role in shaping our future. The IDDRTG shapes international standards through the Integrated Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration Standards (IDDRS). Within these standards, we have dedicated modules on DDR and youth as well as on DDR and natural resources. These modules underscore our commitment to integrating environmental considerations into disarmament processes, ensuring that peacebuilding efforts are sustainable and inclusive.

Today's discussion is timely. Disarmament is not merely about reducing weapons, nor reducing the human cost of weapons as called for in the New Agenda for Peace. It's about creating conditions conducive to lasting peace and sustainable development. Environmental degradation caused by wars and high military emissions due to increases in military expenditures not only exacerbate conflict and insecurity but also threaten ecosystems and the success of climate action. Conversely, promoting disarmament leads to environmental sustainability and also to conflict prevention and peacebuilding, aligning with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 and the broader New Agenda for Peace.

Today's discussions are crucial as we explore innovative pathways to integrate disarmament into the environmental rights agenda. Youth organizations are at the forefront of this movement, advocating passionately for climate action and environmental justice. Your energy, creativity, and commitment are indispensable in driving meaningful change towards a future where peace and sustainability go hand in hand. As we delve into our event, I encourage you to share your perspectives, experiences, and ideas. Let us leverage this platform to foster collaboration and co-create solutions that advance our collective goals towards climate security. In closing, let us be reminded that together we have a shared responsibility to build a world where disarmament, environmental protection, and peacebuilding converge for the well-being of all, and that helps pave the way for more successful outcomes in the upcoming Summit of the Future and our endeavors. Thank you very much.

Host (Sakshi Shree)

Thank you so much, Glaucia, for all of your efforts and your enlightening insight. I'm really grateful for that. We now move on to our panel discussion, and the panel discussion is all about the strategies to promote disarmament in the context of climate change. I recently came across a quote that is very suited to this topic and theme. That is, as rightly said by John Dewey, "A problem well put up is half solved." So for that reason, we can put up the problem and discuss it on this panel so that it will be half solved, and the rest we will have to discuss how to solve it.

For this panel discussion, we have gathered distinguished experts who will share their perspectives on how disarmament can be integrated into climate action strategies. Our panelists today are Yousef Edris, a renowned climate change expert and environmentalist serving as a Special Assistant on Climate Change to the Executive Governor of Kaduna State, the founder of Green Climate Africa, and leading initiatives like the 10 Million Tree Planting Campaign and promoting climate resilience in Africa.

Yousef Edris

Yeah, thank you for having me. I'm happy to be here with you. I'm just having a little technical issue, but I think I'll fix it before the panel starts properly. Yeah, thank you so much.

Host (Sakshi Shree)

Okay, so moving ahead, we now have Livia Lanari, an undergraduate in International Relations at Universitas Indonesia, and a member of the Climate, Peace, and Security Working Group at YUNGO. She focuses on youth engagement in environmental protection and SDGs, coordinating events at the Sakura Science Club and contributing to international cooperation efforts.

Livia Lanari

Thank you very much, Sakshi, for the introduction. Can I please ask whether I'm audible or not? (Host confirms: yeah you are) Okay, thank you very much. Greetings, ladies and gentlemen, my name is Olia from Indonesia. It is an honor for me to be here, and first of all, I would like to thank the YUNGO Climate, Peace, and Security Working Group for this opportunity. I will be discussing with all of you regarding disarmament, which a lot of younger people, including me and also my peers, see as a very high political agenda which seemingly quite out of our reach. So I really appreciate this platform to voice out my perspective, and I actually prepared a presentation material for this, so I will start sharing my screen (Host confirms screen visibility: yeah it is). Okay, thank you very much.

So I will just start on with my presentation since I don't really have much time. For a brief introduction, I'm also a member here at the Climate, Peace, and Security Working Group. I'm part of the participant for the UNITAR Leaders for Free and Open Indo-Pacific. I'm involved in various organizations both in Indonesia and also at the regional level, where I get to express my passion for humanitarian and environmental issues through project management as well as partnership building.

Here, I divided my presentation into four specific topics. I would like to share, starting off with my perspective of how urgent this issue is in correlation with the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) and some reflections regarding the current situation, challenges, and also our way forward that includes my aspirations on, especially, what the younger generations can do regarding promoting disarmament into the environmental rights agenda.

When we're talking about the critical intersection about disarmament, environmental protection, as well as peacebuilding, I believe that our climate and environment can only thrive in a lasting and sustainable peace. It cannot flourish in a state of fluctuation, especially the ones that are man-made. Reviewing history, the world witnessed the first large-scale use of toxic chemical weapons in WWI, the even bigger WWII, decades of the Cold War with arms races and disruptive weapons used in proxy wars, and ongoing conflicts in the post-Cold War period. I question if the human mind is still stuck in the past.

Sustainable peace is addressed in Article 26 of the UN Charter, where disarmament holds an essential position as a precondition for achieving it. When we divert less resources spent on arms and focus it on addressing global challenges and promoting sustainable development, that's when we can achieve sustainable peace. Disarmament is promoted within SDG 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions). I emphasize the urgency of the 2030 climate deadline, beyond which the impact will be too much to handle. IPCC states global emissions must be halved by 2030 and net zero by 2050. We are six years away. SDGs are in peril; only 16% of targets are on track. SDG 16 is particularly off track. The continuation of armament usage and production is intensifying the hindering of progress. The total military carbon footprint is estimated at approximately 5.5% of global emissions, though this is based on limited data and does not include war fighting or complex supply chains. Nations are reluctant to share data about climate militarism. The world faces the highest number of violent conflicts since WWII, with 2 billion people living in affected places, yet many countries resort to the strength of arms. We must establish a clear vision for sustainable security. The removal of arms does not equal insecurity.

Strategic tools include binding or non-binding arms control agreements. Challenges include ongoing conflicts intensifying insecurity, perpetuating armed races; the multipolar International System challenging consensus; eroding respect for international norms; and the military industrial complex where conflicts could be profitable for the few. For the way forward, I believe the digital era and AI signal a new generation, increasingly interconnected and interdependent, where we can become more unified. The root to durable peace is sustainable development. Inclusivity is very important. We must be proactive; include ourselves in discussions, or create new ones, and focus on capacity building. Disarmament must involve effective partnership and a multi-stakeholder approach. Disarmament approaches must start from the country level. As youth, we are change makers and can promote attitudinal change toward disarmament. Civil society is the supervisor of the government, holding them accountable to the SDGs (a promise made by 193 UN Member States). We must have knowledge. Although we are national citizens, at the very core we are World citizens. Awareness is crucial to mobilize collective participation and pressure government for policies aligned with peace.

I imagine an expansion of nuclear weapon free zones. Indonesia is part of ASEAN, which has the Treaty of Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon Free Zone (1995). We must raise this issue in countries without such commitments. We must embrace a new Global Paradigm rooted in SDGs and humanitarian principles, focusing on combating poverty and achieving sustainable peace. Advancements in science and technology can offer innovative outlooks, for instance, developing Renewable Energy Technologies (solar, wind, hydropower) to reduce conflict often caused by energy scarcity. I reiterate a statement from Rosalie Bertell: we must set up a cooperative relationship with nature, not one of dominance. I hope with creativity, innovation, and hope, we can utilize the crisis and shift it into opportunity, building stronger generations and resiliency. Thank you very much for listening.

Host (Sakshi Shree)

Thank you so much, Livia, that's really a wonderful presentation and a very incredible insight on the same. Now I'd like to have Abilash Sasa, co-founder of Naan by Handy Rui dedicated to empowering communities and reviving traditional millet cultivation in Uttarakhand, India. His work bridges sustainable agriculture with environmental policy, emphasizing SDG 12, which is responsible consumption and production. Moving further, the next one is Jan Sebastian Hua. Sebastian is an advocate for nuclear disarmament and environmental protection with a focus on the impact of nuclear waste disposal on marine ecosystems and human communities. With extensive experience in environmental science and international policy, Sebastian has been actively involved in various global initiatives aimed at promoting effective disarmament and environmental restoration. As a prominent member of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), Sebastian has contributed to numerous projects that leverage advanced technologies like Artificial Intelligence and satellite mapping to address radioactive waste disposal. I'd like to hand over to Sebastian.

Sebastian

Hello everyone, nice to meet you. I'm from Colombia; right now, I'm here in Colombia, in Bogotá, so let me share the screen to you guys. (Shares screen) Perfect.

I want to start talking about the nuclear disposal on the ocean and the perspective of disarming and environment restoration. This is an investigation that I started doing by myself. Everything is done by myself, but I started using MX AI (Artificial Intelligence) and satellites that are from NASA. The first part, we're going to talk about the introduction and historical context and disposal practice from 1946 to 1993 by 11 countries. This is the nuclear waste disposal in the ocean right now and the impact on the environmental and the health impacts. The TPNW (Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons) is the explanation in Article Six and Article Number Seven.

The obligation to the environmental restoration and mutual assistance is very important because just the United States, Japan, and Germany have a very obligation for mutual assistance, and we need to find the financial resources to start doing the restoration in the ocean. Another important thing is the using of the drones to support the high-resolution imaging of the high-water habitats because right now it's so heavy to find the specific points and the specific location that is right now the ocean dumping, the nuclear dumping. Using the new technology to clean the pollution is important. The sustainability is so important to use this kind of technology to start doing something.

The import of the Treaty is the provision of the Environmental Protection and implementing solar projects to ocean sensors. The TPNW Number Six requires states parties to promote Victim Assistance. This is very important. For example, the Pacific Ocean is the most heavy right now with the nuclear dumping. Under Article Number Seven, the recall of all the states participating in the obligation to provide assistance is very important, and the international cooperation, for example, the United States, Japan, Germany, Italy, and UK. This is the initiative with ICAN. ICAN started making this from 2017. They won the Nobel Prize for promoting this in right now 80 countries, and we promote the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and of course, facing the disarmament and the environmental restoration.

I want to show you the using of artificial intelligence. This is what I made using AI with ChatGPT. With ChatGPT, I started to make it say where the most specific places for the nuclear wasting are in the North Atlantic Ocean. This started making from 1961, and of course, you can see the impact in the North Atlantic part, of course, the United States and Europe. That is the point to start using AI and of course, the satellite. You can see this is information from NASA. I use two satellites from NASA, one is from NOAA and another one is from NASA. You can see the effect of the nuclear waste in the ocean. Another thing that I started to find, for example, in my context in South America, Brazil and Argentina have a lot of nuclear wasting. You can find nuclear waste in the Antarctica too.

In my conclusion, using this kind of things with the AI is the best solution to make the restoration. Using, of course, AI and satellites to start to promote financial resources and of course, the political party that is important to promote this. The call to action: it's important to ratify the Treaty in all the countries. If we have the ratification of the Treaty in all the countries, we have the financial resources, linking disarmament with environmental protection, because this connection is so deep. Of course, we need to promote the international cooperation. It's not just the case for the United States. It's for everybody. I invite joining the disarmament and the restoration initiative. I want to share this history here in Colombia: with the Minister of Environment, we started making the restoration of the coral reefs and promoted all this growth to 1 million coral reefs this year. That's it.

Host (Sakshi Shree)

Thank you so much, Sebastian. We really liked your presentation because there are certain aspects that need to be considered: the role of space in the maritime ecosystem restoration and the other aspects that you have already discussed through your presentation. We would now like to call Yousef Edris Amok, a renowned climate change expert and environmentalist serving as Special Assistant on Climate Change to the Executive Governor of Kaduna State, founder of Green Climate Africa, leading initiatives like the 10 Million Tree Planting Campaign and promoting climate resilience in Africa. The floor is yours, Yousef.

Yousef Edris

Okay, thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to be here with you, and I wish to also appreciate the previous speakers for trying to do justice to the topic. It's actually a shame to us all as Global Citizens that we can actually not coordinate ourselves or conduct ourselves in a manner that humans are supposed to conduct themselves, and this has costed billions of dollars and loss of lives, and it has actually caused a lot of unimaginable hardship to people, most especially those that do not actually understand global politics.

Disarmament, insecurity, and the environment all play around global politics. When we talk about disarmament, we're looking at how do we stop the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. We're looking at how do we stop the production of such weapons and how do those weapons not get to the hands of non-state actors. All of these can be achieved only when we focus on building peace. We cannot achieve this peacebuilding when a part of the globe is actually oppressed, when a part of a people feel disenfranchised, and when the resources of a people are being utilized to build other parts of the world against where these resources are actually getting from. When there is hunger in the land, the sense of reasoning is eroded.

I'll be speaking from the perspective of Africa and the Global South. We are a people with natural resources, but we are now the victim of the global arms deal and global insecurity, most especially the Sahel region of Africa where poverty, insecurity, and negative indices are most. When poverty is so high, people no longer think about protecting the environment. Resources become a competition for scarce resources, leading to people taking arms against themselves (survival of the fittest). On the global stage, if we want peace to reign, there must be Justice, fairness, and Equity.

If you take the case study of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the environment where these bombs were dropped up till now are feeling the impact. There is little consideration for Environmental Protection from the global political leaders. We must understand that there is no Planet B. The Global North is being very unfair to the Global South on economic and social fronts. The world has never gotten so close to nuclear havoc as we are faced today (Russia-Ukraine, Middle East, Iran). Scientists, according to the IPCC, have made it very clearly that we are almost at the brink of irreversible climate impact. The globe emits about 40 Gigatons of carbon dioxide every year.

The global political leaders must take caution. The young people must point it out to them emphatically that the need for them to think for the future is very important. Advocacy must be very, very loud amongst local communities. The non-kinetic approach is the best approach that we can win the hearts of people with and build the peace that we actually need. The education system needs to be upgraded in such a way that peacebuilding becomes a part of our education system on a global stage. When leaders are engaged, our lives matter.

A perspective of Africa and Nigeria: the Sahel region where Nigeria falls, Lake Chad has dried up more than 90% of itself. Boko Haram has been breeding there; conflict has been exacerbated by poverty and the environment. The ecosystem recovery is going to take more than 50 years. All parts of the globe are a victim of these arms conflicts, and there is a need for us to come together.

Host (Sakshi Shree)

Thank you so much, Yousef, for your insightful discussion. We have a question, and we will take the question last. Bilal Ahmed is having a question. If Bilal is in the room, then I would kindly request you to turn your video on and your microphone and you can ask the questions. Okay, is there any other question that you would like to ask to the panelists?

Moving ahead with a very transitioning to the workshop on regionalization. We are going to have the discussion on how to localize and implement the strategies. The very basic question to be asked to each of the panel members: how can we effectively regionalize and localize the disarmament strategies to address both environmental as well as the peace-related objectives? Starting with the panel member Livia, if you could give the insight on the same question.

Livia Lanari

I think I do have the point of view of a bottom-up approach. It's more of how the Civil Society initiates this disarmament through capacity-building efforts as well as through building awareness and advocacy. I'm quite privileged from a country that really focuses on how to be friends with many nations. Education is important because Civil Society supervises our government. By having knowledge and collective participation, we can pressure our government.

Host (Sakshi Shree)

That's an interesting insight, and the bottom-up approach is quite relevant. Moving ahead with Sebastian with the same question.

Sebastian

For my opinion, I think we need to create friends. If you create friends, you create partnership. The first step: we connect deeply with the planet and with the human beings. Then we start making disarming and everything and make an effort for Peace. I heard, for example, in the last interview with one hibakusha (the last survivor that spoke for Hiroshima), she mentioned we need to create friends everywhere.

Host (Sakshi Shree)

That's really amazing, and we really have to work on this aspect as well because most of the democratic countries are focusing on the Friendship policy. Moving ahead, I'd like to give the call to Yousef Amok.

Yousef Edris

I think my idea is not far from those of the previous panelists. Everything that happens on the global stage starts from the local stage. At our local level, there will be a need for organizations with the local governments and people in the communities. Let them understand the impact of conflicts and environmental destruction. It becomes easier for us to pressure the government or people that we are voting into power. If your president acts based on the needs and wants of their local people, it becomes easier because nobody wants war.

Host (Sakshi Shree)

It's a really great point that you have just come up with. And moving ahead with Glaucia. Please go ahead.

Glaucia Boyer

Thank you very much for the opportunity. I have a contribution to make on the question that you just made about regionalization linking to the localization as well. From my experience in UNDP, a great opportunity is now found in the Lake Chad Basin region. We have been supporting the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) to implement the stabilization, recovery, and resilience of the region. This regional effort is outlined in a strategy and goes down to Governor levels of all the countries concerned here: Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, and Chad. This is to face the challenge posed by Boko Haram. The LCBC originally focused around the environment/natural resources but had to focus on conflict. Stabilization success now paves the way to look at really disarmament and climate change. There is also a Civil Society Organization (CSO) platform in the Lake Chad Basin Commission that could link up to these efforts.

Host (Sakshi Shree)

Thank you, Glaucia, this is really an insightful point that you have also mentioned. We are coming ahead to the Declaration of Commitments. The participating organizations and the governments are invited to share their commitments. I really want to ask on that: how can we mobilize the resources to combat this challenge and to maintain these strategies?

Yousef Edris

When you talk about resources, it's not just all about money. The human capital itself, the social capital, they are all resources that can be leveraged. In Nigeria, one of our major resources that we've been using is religious leaders, community leaders, and traditional leaders. They are so influential in communities that people actually listen to. We leverage that, and we actually get them to talk to young people. The need for Global support is also there, just like UNDP spoke about the Lake Chad region. Most of these conflicts are related to poverty, the lack of basic amenities for survival. In the Lake Chad region that Glaucia is talking about, one of the things that was discovered to have exacerbated the Boko Haram is the lack of availability of jobs for young people due to the shrinking of the lake. The resources are these people, and there's room for both national philanthropists and international organizations to actually come together. We need reliable data that can be used to actually disarm or build peace. The non-kinetic approach has been the best approach to disarmament. This means providing resilient sources of livelihood to people and educating them, creating an avenue for advocacy and awareness creation. All of these are non-kinetic approaches that we can use in building peace, and these resources are very available around us.

Host (Sakshi Shree)

Thank you so much, Yousef, for your answer. I'd like to thank you for all of your comments and commitments. As we conclude, let's outline our next steps. We will continue our advocacy and action based on today's discussions and commitments. We will also plan our follow-up events and meetings to review our progress and adjust our strategies as needed. Thank you to all our participants who are listening to us and have their participation and dedication to this critical cause. Together we can advance both environmental and peace-related objectives. Have a wonderful day and a goodbye.

Yousef Edris

Thank you so much.

Livia Lanari

Thank you.