John Duncan

BLOG ACTION DAY 2009: THE NUCLEAR EQUATION

Climate change, perhaps the biggest issue for the world community. Twenty years ago I experienced this at first hand in Sudan. To see the inexorable spread of the the Sahara southwards engulfing villages and fields that only a few years before had been fertile land was a real personal wake up call.

Today I am very conscious of the environmental aspect of our work in Arms Control & Disarmament. How to ensure that development of civil nuclear power is not diverted into nuclear weapon programmes is at the heart of what we are about. But on the conventional side too the environmental damage caused by landmines and cluster munitions is not only the fact that explosives, including heavy metals leach into the soil, but as agricultural land becomes too dangerous too use, people are often  forced to clear new land, increasing deforestation. 

It will be a major challenge to meet the  demand for energy across the world from renewable energy sources. Nuclear energy will be part of the solution. Gordon Brown set out our vision on this issue in his speech at Lancaster House conference earlier this year.

In my statement today at the UN I referred to David Miliband's comment that “Get it right, and we will increase global security, pave the way for a world without nuclear weapons, and improve access to affordable, safe and dependable energy. Get it wrong, and we face a new and dangerous era of new state nuclear weapon holders and the chilling prospect of nuclear material falling into the hands of terrorists.” 

Posted at 10:41 15 October 2009 by John Duncan  |  Comments[0]

LIFTING THE NUCLEAR SHADOW: WHAT THE PUBLIC THINKS

As part of our ongoing dialogue on how to achieve a World Free of Nuclear Weapons, David Miliband will launch next week a new public consultation paper. He has also given an interview on BBC’s World Tonight programme  (Thursday 29th edition) which covers many of the issues we deal with in Geneva.

Making progress in Nuclear Non proliferation and Disarmament is vital to the security of our world both now and for future generations. Climate change has increased the demand for cleaner energy, but we cannot allow this to increase the risk of nuclear wars.

The Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in New York next year will be the moment when the world community comes together to look at how far we have got towards stopping the spread of nuclear weapons, and setting the world on the path towards nuclear abolition.  Diplomats will meet in New York in May this year to set out the agenda for the Review Conference.

Our consultation paper aims to encourage wider public to speak up. It outlines the large number of practical measures the UK is taking, (in addition to reducing our own nuclear arsenal down 75% since the end of the Cold war) such as:

- a major conference this March, called by Gordon Brown, to develop further proposals for minimising the proliferation risks which could arise with the global expansion of civil nuclear power;

-  building greater confidence in nuclear disarmament through the pioneering work by our Atomic Weapons Establishment on the verification of nuclear disarmament, including their work with Norway and the verification NGO, VERTIC and  a conference of the recognised nuclear weapons states to discuss the way forward on verification.

Those of us at the negotiating front line need your voice to be heard. The BBC is inviting listeners’ comments.
There will be a live web stream of the launch of the new paper on the FCO website and the video will be available to download. So please do engage in the debate.
 

Posted at 19:29 30 January 2009 by John Duncan  |  Comments[12]