On 15-17 December 2022, the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS) and the Planetary Security Initiative (PSI) convened a Regional Workshop on Climate Security in the Bay of Bengal, in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The track 1.5 workshop bookended IPCS’ 2022 activities in a multi-year project with the Clingendael Institute on the security implications of climate change in Southern Asia.
Recent gas discoveries in the eastern Mediterranean have transformed the region’s energy market and economic relationships, raising hopes for geopolitical change as well. The U.S. pioneered what it called “gas diplomacy”, aspiring to use the region’s new energy wealth to bring its countries in conflict to the negotiating table. Israel and Egypt, the new finds’ main beneficiaries, co-founded a regional gas forum.
Adapting to survive remains the only option for millions of Somalis as their country is on the precipice of yet another famine, the third in three decades. This Alert examines how the adverse effects of climate change combined with weak governance and spiralling insecurity have left hundreds of thousands of Somalis food insecure, with women and girls paying the highest price.
For humanitarian actors, the compounding impacts of environmental degradation and climate change on all aspects of human security are starkly visible in the needs of the populations they serve. In the Near and Middle East, the consequences of armed conflict are exacerbating these impacts, with severe repercussions on health, safety and well-being. As climate change intensifies, its impacts will also intensify, which, in turn, will further exacerbate humanitarian needs.
The new summary report on ‘Climate Security Scenarios in the Balkans’ examines climate security futures for the Western Balkans region and identifies entry points for anticipatory action on climate resilience for NATO and the EU. The findings of the paper are based on an interactive scenario exercise held at the Berlin Climate and Security Conference 2022.
Sierra Leone is facing a range of climate and environmental risks that directly affect human security. Human activities, including environmental crime, are further undermining protective ecosystem services and destroying carbon sinks, contributing to the cycle of degradation and accelerating the effects of climate change.
This SIPRI Policy Report compares responses to climate-related security risks by the European Union (EU), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)—the three main intergovernmental regional organizations involved in addressing security in Europe and beyond. All three have formulated ambitious policies in the area of climate security in recent years.
Latin America is experiencing a confluence of insecurity and migration challenges that are increasingly intertwined with climate change. High levels of ethnic, gender, and socioeconomic inequality are ubiquitous, and populism and authoritarianism are gaining traction. In the Central American countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, in particular, chronic conflict, violence, and weak governance are key constructs undermining human security.
This study explores entry points for WFP to, in addition to its core humanitarian mandate as a first responder, contribute to building climate-resilient food systems and sustainable peace in the West Nile sub-region of Uganda.
How to respond to anticipated climate change is a defining challenge across nearly every field and scope of human activity. Peacebuilding is no exception. While many have identified ways that climate change or environmental degradation might affect peace and security concerns, how to best respond to these so-called ‘climate-security’ challenges is still an emerging area of practice within the peacebuilding field.
