Tuvalu has told the United Nations that climate change is a matter for the Security Council.
Tuvalu's ambassador to the United Nations, Enele Sopoaga, told a debate in New York that the Security Council should be enlarged so it could be more effective for all countries, big or small.
Mr Sopoaga said that for Tuvalu, like many small island developing states, security was not simply a matter relating to international terrorism or biological, chemical or nuclear weapons.
He said its security was already threatened by sea-level rise.
Mr Sopoaga told his fellow U.N. delegates that global warming was already inflicting serious injury to the survival of Tuvalu.
He said climate change was a security issue for Tuvalu because it was undermining the basic human rights of its people to live on their islands.
