The effects of climate change and water insecurity remain pressing issues – not only for Iraqis’ daily lives, but also for the country’s security. On 12 May 2022, PSI held its second climate-security dialogue in Basra, southern Iraq, in collaboration with Ozon for Sustainability, a local non-governmental organization. This event, titled “Fostering Climate Security and Environmental Cooperation in South Iraq”, convened over 80 local practitioners, academics and journalists.

Environment of Peace: Security in a New Era of Risk surveys the evolving risk landscape and documents a number of developments that indicate a pathway to solutions – in international law and policy, in peacekeeping operations and among non-governmental organizations.

As we have previously covered, militaries are both affected by climate change and contribute to it. While decarbonization increasingly receives military’s attention, other climate-related crucial policies, such as the European Green Deal, still largely omit the sector.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the fragility of our global system and the rife inequality across our world. It has also demonstrated clearly that business-as-usual is not fit to address current global challenges. In the run up to Stockholm +50, “achieving a sustainable and inclusive recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic” is central to examining and rebuilding the relationship between human and environmental wellbeing.

India’s giant heat wave is having ripple effects for the world’s food supply.

For the past few days, a heat wave of mind-boggling scale and intensity has gripped South Asia. More than 1 billion people in India and Pakistan have endured daytime highs of 40 degrees Celsius, or 104 degrees Fahrenheit.

On 12 May, the Planetary Security Initiative (PSI) is officially launching the Basra Forum (BF) for Climate, Environment and Security at its second climate-security dialogue in Basra, southern Iraq. The forum seeks to foster dialogue and collaboration among Iraqi civil society, governmental institutions, non-governmental organisations, academia, and other relevant actors working in the fields of climate change, environmental degradation and security. 

Aid agencies call for help as 20 million - mostly in Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia - face hunger, with Russia's invasion of Ukraine disrupting supply lines

With landscapes parched, animals collapsing and dying, and people fleeing to camps with only the possessions they can carry, the drought in the Horn of Africa is already causing acute suffering.

Climate change shifts the priorities of communities and security providers. How can we measure climate impacts on rural and indigenous women’s security to make better policies and decisions?

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group III (WGIII) on Mitigation released its contribution to the Sixth Assessment Cycle (AR6) on April 4 after the longest approval plenary in the IPCC’s history.

In this interview, the PSI talked to Evgenia Chamilou, UN Youth Champion for Environment and Peace, from Cyprus. Evgenia is 23 years old and has been involved in advocacy, youth empowerment, European affairs and diplomacy from a young age. Having finished her Master's in Public International Law at the London School of Economics, she is currently a trainee at the Council of Europe.