Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary, will chair the first UN Security Council debate on climate change this month after Britain successfully pushed it to the top of the international agenda.

Overcoming reservations from Russia, China and Qatar, British diplomats have scheduled the unprecedented session for April 17 during Britain’s month-long presidency of the 15-nation council.

The move is tantamount to declaring global warming a threat to global security because the Security Council deals only with threats to international peace and security.

It is similar to an American initiative in 2000 that led to a landmark Security Council debate on the impact of Aids, which was chaired by Al Gore, who was then vice-president.

Several council members have complained that by tackling climate change, the Security Council would be overstepping its bounds and trespassing on the jurisdiction of other UN bodies, notably the 192-nation General Assembly.

But Britain made its case in a draft “concept paper”, obtained by The Times.

It suggested that rising sea levels, an increasing shortage of fresh water and declining agricultural capacity could displace up to 200 million people by the middle of the century, fuelling instability.

Global warming also threatens to exacerbate competition over energy resources.

The paper says: “The focus of the debate will be on the security implications of a changing climate, including through its impact on potential drivers of conflict (such as access to energy, water, food and other scarce resources, population movements and border disputes).”

Britain also pledged that it would not seek any Security Council action or follow-up on the debate.

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