adelphi and partners hold climate-fragility training in Nepal
Nepal and Afghanistan face a number of serious climate-fragility risks, so adelphi brought together regional government officials and NGO experts for a training in Kathmandu on 9 November 2019.
Nepal and Afghanistan – as well as their South Asian neighbours - face a number of serious climate-fragility risks. For example, in Nepal, floods and landslides have made it harder for some people to make a living and forced them to consider migrating to other areas of the country. Meanwhile in Afghanistan, increasingly frequent droughts are encouraging farmers to resort to more drought-resistant crops, such as poppy plants, which can boost the drug economy.
In order to improve the region’s ability to adapt to climate change, adelphi, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and Practical Action Nepal brought together experts from the Afghani and Nepalese governments, as well as local and national civil society organisations, international organisations and donors, and the academia, to analyse and discuss the knock-on consequences of climate change.
The training, which took place at the Hotel Greenwich in Kathmandu on November 9th, was based on an Integrated Climate-Fragility Risk Assessment tool that links peacebuilding and climate change adaption, developed by UNEP and adelphi as part of the EU-funded Climate Change and Fragility project.
Participants highlighted the importance of addressing the social dimension of climate challenges and gave examples of specific experiences and projects at the nexus of climate and security. As Dr. Beatrice Mosello of adelphi put it, “It is important to understand how climate change interacts with other drivers or risk. Without quantifying these trends, the world will continue to underestimate the scale of climate change.”
This was just the first of several trainings and workshops in South Asia planned for the rest of 2019. Stay tuned for the launch of adelphi’s Climate Security Expert Network website, where you can find fact sheets and detailed risk reports on the climate-fragility risks in chosen countries.
Jair Bolsonaro, Brasil’s current de facto presidential frontrunner, says he would withdraw Brazil from the Paris Agreement if he wins the October election. The withdrawal of such an important developing country, home to the world’s largest rainforest, would deal a blow to international climate cooperation. Bolsorano’s opposition to the international pact has drawn criticism from the UN’s environment chief.
Until now, no one had seriously doubted that relations between the US and Europe, for all the difficulties and conflicts they have gone through, would continue safe and sound. Since Trump was elected as US President however, the atmosphere has changed. The re-nationalisation of the world order has gained speed and is making clear how far advanced global interdependencies have become. With global multilateralism in crisis, climate diplomacy could act as a new driving force.
There are only a few weeks to go before international and local leaders from states, regions, cities, businesses, investors and civil society travel to the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco to create a new wave of mobilization. As Earth is at risk of entering a situation of extreme conditions, those going must bring along more than just flowers in their hair.
The surge in the frequency and intensity of climate change impacts has raised the alarm about how this could hamper coastal activities. Several critical ports in the Indo-Pacific region are hubs of international trade and commerce and at the same time vulnerable to typhoons, taller waves and erosion. India’s climate diplomacy at the regional level could activate climate-resilient pathways for port development and management.