.

Back to Overview
Climate Diplomacy
Global Issues
25 January, 2019

Climate change to return to UN Security Council agenda under Dominican Republic presidency

Planetary Security Initiative
UN Security Council Chamber
A view of the UN Security Council voting on a resolution. | © UN Photo/Manuel Elias

Today, Friday 25th January 2019, the UN Security Council will hold an open debate addressing the impacts of climate-related disasters on international peace and security (at 4pm CET and 10am EST). President Danilo Medina of the Dominican Republic will chair the meeting, which will also include the participation of several member states at ministerial level.

Speakers to be confirmed are the Under-Secretary-General and Administrator of UNDP, Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Rosemary A. DiCarlo, and the chief scientist and research director of WMO, Pavel Kabat. The debate is due to be streamed live on UN Web TV.

It is almost 12 years since the Council first considered the impact of climate change on peace and security, with pressure mounting particularly in recent years for more substantive action. Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in particular have been at the forefront of this effort to find an institutional home for climate security in the UN, as detailed in the ‘Fighting an existential threat’ briefing published by the PSI last year.

Most recently the call for a Special Representative on Climate and Security was repeated by Nauru’s President at the Council in July 2018. The issue was also discussed in December at the PSI Regional Consultation in Aruba, convened to develop a Plan of Action for the Caribbean Region. This plan will be presented during the Planetary Security Conference 2019 in several sessions, and discussed during a workshop on climate-security risks in the Caribbean region convened by Shiloh Fetzek of The Center for Climate and Security, with Prime Minister H.E. Leona Marlin-Romeo of Sint Maarten among the speakers.

The Planetary Security Conference 2019 will also feature an interactive workshop on a new UN climate security institutional mechanism, convened by Malin Mobjörk of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) and Martin Ras of the UN Development Program (UNDP).

The key issues to be discussed during this Friday’s Council debate are:

  • the need to enhance understanding about the security implications of climate change-related natural disasters;
  • the need for member states to develop improved risk assessment and mitigation strategies for such disasters;
  • the importance of developing the analytical capacities of the UN system to assess climate change-related security threats, provide the Security Council with useful information about these threats, and support states in developing and implementing actionable plans to address them;
  • the importance of developing synergies among states, regional and sub-regional organisations, and the UN system in managing and mitigating climate change-related security risks; and
  • the need to determine how the Security Council, the peace operations it mandates, and UN Country Teams can best collaborate to address such risks.

As the independent news site Security Council Report notes in a preview of the debate, “the Council currently focuses on the symptoms of climate change but does not address its underlying causes … It seems important for members to consider whether the Council could usefully and appropriately take other precise steps in tackling climate-related risks to peace and security, in addition to calling for enhanced reporting and for better risk assessment and mitigation strategies.”

 

[This article originally appeard on planetarysecurityinitiative.org.]

 

In this policy brief, Susanne Droege from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) comments on the challenges for Germany to move the topic of climate fragility forward.

Source:
Planetary Security Initiative
Related Reading 
Gauging the Temperature: Climate Change in the UN Security Council

The links between climate change and security have started entering regional resolutions through the UN Security Council. Germany, elected for a seat on the Council in 2019-20, will again prioritize climate-related security risks as one of its main agendas. What prospects does a renewed engagement on climate security risks offer and is there scope for preventive participation?

Read more
Climate Diplomacy Podcast 1: The UNSC's role in addressing climate related security risks

With climate change increasingly being seen as a security issue, we ask what role the United Nations Security Council could and should play. To answer this question, we are joined on the Climate Diplomacy Podcast by UN expert and Chatham House Associate Fellow Oli Brown. In this podcast, Oli explains some of the challenges that the UN Security Council has had in tackling climate change and outlines the prospects for action in the future.

Read more
Climate Diplomacy
Global Issues
15 November, 2019

Speech by Foreign Minister Heiko Maas at the briefing on the 25th UN Climate Change Conference

At a briefing ahead of the COP25, foreign minister Heiko Maas called for higher ambition for the European Union, which should act as a role-model to encourage other states to boost their commitments to climate action. He further reiterated the importance of supporting multilateralism and an international climate regime that is able to withstand setbacks, such as the US withdrawal of the Paris Agreement.

Climate Change
Early Warning & Risk Analysis
Global Issues
13 November, 2019

A Toolkit for Addressing Climate Fragility Risks

adelphi

Climate change is increasingly challenging global security and undermining peacebuilding efforts. UN Environment and the European Union have joined forces to address these challenges. With the support of adelphi, they have developed a toolkit on ‘Addressing climate-fragility risks’. This toolkit facilitates the development and implementation of strategies, policies, and projects that seek to build resilience by linking climate change adaptation, peacebuilding, and sustainable livelihoods, focusing on the pilot countries Sudan and Nepal.

Climate Change
Security
Global Issues
11 November, 2019

Climate security on the agenda of the European Security and Defence College

European Security and Defence College (ESDC)

Nobody needs to be convinced that climate change affects our very existence and security. However, experts are interested to know how climate change affects security at a global level and what the EU can do in that regard. This was the main aim of the European Security and Defence College (ESDC) Climate Change and Security Course co-organised by the French Institute for Higher National Defence Studies (IHEDN) and adelphi, as part of the Climate Diplomacy initiative supported by the German Federal Foreign Office, which took place in Brussels from 21 to 23 October 2019.

Climate Change
Security
Sub-Saharan Africa
11 November, 2019

Shoring up Stability in Niger

Stella Schaller, Janani Vivekananda (adelphi) and Oli Brown (Chatham House)

The new study Shoring up Stability demonstrates, for the first time, how climate change interacts with conflict and exacerbates the humanitarian crisis in the Lake Chad region. To launch the report and discuss its findings with local policy-makers, experts and practitioners, the German Embassy in Niger, adelphi and CNESS co-organised a launch event on 24 October in Niamey. Insights from Niger point to the importance of investing in governance rather than technical fixes.