adelphi and ICCCAD hold climate fragility roundtable in Dhaka
On 19 November in Dhaka, adelphi partnered with the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) to hold a roundtable and discussion on climate change and fragility risks in South Asia.
The consultation dialogue event, which took place at the Ascott Palace Hotel, was convened in the framework of the Climate Diplomacy Initiative (supported by the German Federal Foreign Office). The goal was to deepen the understanding of national and regional concerns and priorities and best practices in the face of climate change-related security impacts, as well as to discuss potential strategies and solutions relevant to the South Asian context.
There were 31 participants from academia/research organisations, international and national NGOs and civil society organisations, donors and international and multilateral organisations. They highlighted two key climate-fragility risks in particular.
First, management of transboundary water resources. The countries of South Asia often rely on the same water supply and there is real potential for disagreement over supply. At the moment, each country tends to put its own political priorities first even though joint river basin management is the best way to meet everyone’s needs.
Second, climate-induced migration, especially from rural to urban areas. Dhaka receives over 1,000 migrants a day, and Bangladesh is also hosting Rohingya populations in the southern part of the country, where anti-migrant sentiment is growing among communities who themselves are negatively affected by climate change impacts.
Regional experts picked out improved education as one of the most important responses. Education is a means to give youth—especially girls—the tools and capacities they need to address these issues in the future. Any policy interventions must also take into account political economy dynamics and power relations: marginalised people living in poverty will struggle to take effective climate action.
adelphi Senior Project Manager Dr. Beatrice Mosello presented the Climate Security Expert Network (CSEN)'s South Asia risk brief, while Senior Project Manager Lukas Rüttinger gave welcome remarks alongside Dr. Saleemul Huq of ICCCAD, also a member of the CSEN.
The European Green Deal has made the environment and climate change the focus of EU action. Indeed, climate change impacts are already increasing the pressure on states and societies; however, it is not yet clear how the EU can engage on climate security and environmental peacemaking. In this light, and in the run-up to the German EU Council Presidency, adelphi and its partners are organising a roundtable series on “Climate, environment, peace: Priorities for EU external action in the decade ahead”.
In January 2020, the German Federal Foreign Office launched Green Central Asia, a regional initiative on climate and security in Central Asia and Afghanistan. The aim of the initiative is to support a dialogue in the region on climate change and associated risks in order to foster regional integration between the six countries involved.
Climate change will shift key coordinates of foreign policy in the coming years and decades. Even now, climate policy is more than just environment policy; it has long since arrived at the centre of foreign policy. The German Foreign Office recently released a report on climate diplomacy recognizing the biggest challenges to security posed by climate change and highlighting fields of action for strengthening international climate diplomacy.
A high-level ministerial conference in Berlin is looking at the impact of climate change on regional security in Central Asia. The aim is to foster stronger regional cooperation, improve the exchange of information and form connections with academia and civil society.