‘It’s a disaster for a country that was fighting to develop. People are displaced, infrastructure is destroyed... fields are lost.’

The European Centre for Development Policy Management just released a new issue of its magazine Great Insights investigating whether climate change is a trigger to violent conflicts.  To further understand the link between climate change and violent conflicts, Great Insights asked policymakers and analysts to help in answering the following question: “When is climate change a risk factor for violent conflicts and what can be done to address climate change risk as part of a broader peacebuilding effort?”.

This public meeting will take place on the 14th of November at Leiden University Campus Wijnhaven in the Hague. It will discuss the security implications of climate change for the Sahel and the implications for its surrounding regions such as North-Africa and the Mediterranean.

Climate change poses serious challenges to current and future peacebuilding missions, according to a new report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) which studies the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM). Climate change amplifies existing challenges and strengthens radical groups. At the same time, climate change forces missions to think out of the box with UNSOM proving to be an encouraging example.

Disasters – from droughts and dust storms to hurricanes and floods – are becoming more frequent and more severe as our planet warms. They bring a high cost to human life, economies, and ecosystems. But how we deal with these disasters is not keeping pace.

Tom Middendorp, former Netherlands Chief of Defence and Clingendael's Senior Associate Fellow, spoke at “Sustainability in Europe: The State of Play”, in the European Parliament in Brussels on October 15, 2019.