We are proud to implement the Planetary Security Initiative (PSI) with support of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As the world faces increasing and at times unprecedented stresses, the initiative allows us to consolidate and strengthen the community of practitioners on the frontlines of climate change and security. Nearly 300 people participated in the second edition of the Planetary Security Conference last December, thereby confirming it as the annual meeting on this scale for this emerging community of practice.
While some countries are more resilient than others, all are vulnerable to existing and future stresses associated with climate change. Enormous gains can be made by integrating insights on environmental stresses in policies on conflict prevention, peacebuilding, military missions and humanitarian aid operations. Vice versa, benefits can accrue when incorporating security policy lessons into natural resource management and climate adaptation activities. There is a “responsibility to prepare” for the risks that are unavoidable, but also to step up efforts to reduce such risks or to bend them into opportunities for cooperation. In this context, the PSI has a crucial role in developing a community of practice adept at balancing the risks and the benefits.
Our challenge as the consortium implementing the PSI is now to build on the momentum generated by the 2016 conference. We were pleased by the Dutch intention to bring planetary security to the agenda of the UN Security Council during its membership there in 2018, and by the support for the planetary security agenda expressed by both Sweden (member in 2017-2018) and Italy (2017). The commitment to integrate environmental risk insights in mainstream defence planning and operations by the Netherlands was another encouraging sign. In 2017 we will feature PSI in other activities, such as the Future Force Conference on February 9 and 10 in The Hague, the Stockholm Forum on Peace and Development, the Climate and National Security Forum in Washington DC and the Planetary Boundaries International Conference in Berlin. We will also be present at many other international events and processes, such as UNFCCC meetings, High-level groups linked to the SDG implementation and policy meetings on migration, disaster risk reduction and security policy.
Soon, we will publish the policy briefs of the working groups of the 2016 conference. These briefs will be concise, engaging and focused on offering actionable policy recommendations. We will also continue with online expert consultations to keep the ideas generated in the conference working groups relevant to the changing political environment. The PSI website will continue to be updated with agendas of relevant events and highlight examples of planetary security risk management gaining ground. Social media activities and the PSI newsletter will be used to reach an ever-larger community. We will step up efforts to liaise and cooperate more closely with other initiatives and efforts with similar objectives, such as UNEP’ sustainable resource management and peacebuilding project, MISTRA’s new programme on the geopolitics of global change or one of the various NEXUS projects in the MENA region.
We plan to organise new PSI events in other parts of the world in the second half of 2017 and work towards the third planetary security conference. This aspect of the Initiative should not be understated. A community of practitioners who have met and established mutual trust, has great potential to increase the opportunities for climate-smart peace-building mechanisms.
The next conference will build upon the first two and be even more dynamic, with an increased focus on tangible projects, policy action and network opportunities for the community of practice. Working groups will be more interactive and engage new stakeholders, notably the “non-converted” and policy-makers tasked to act on these risks. Another idea is to build a “toolbox” to enable policy makers implement the ideas generated at the PSI conference. We will also make a concerted effort to better incorporate the private sector in the conference, where it has a role in assessing, reducing and preparing for climate risks. To ensure participation of all relevant foreign policy and security actors we suggest back-to-back meetings with relevant groups, such as the EU’s Green Diplomacy Network and/or EU Global Issues Directors and the G7 high-level group on conflict fragility.
Planetary security is a topic that needed but lacked an institutional home. The Netherlands is widely recognised for providing it. We hope to continue the journey to build and strengthen this initiative in the coming years.
Read the statement is also available as online pdf.