During April 10 and11 2016, the G7 Foreign Ministers met at Hiroshima, Japan to discuss current international affairs in the run-up to the G7 Summit in May. In the final Joint Communiqué they once again took a strong stance on tackling climate-fragility risks collectively. They endorsed a quick entry into force of the Paris Agreement by all parties, while also emphasizing the role of the G7 in the prevention of climate fragility risks and the need to further consider these challenges as part of their foreign policies:
“We reiterate that climate change poses a serious threat to global security and economic prosperity and shared the view that foreign policy must contribute to addressing this challenge effectively. In this context, we welcome the report submitted to us by the G7 Working Group on Climate Change and Fragility, endorse its recommendations, and affirm the need to continue to work on the issues of the climate-fragility risks by aligning our efforts toward the common goal of increasing resilience and reducing fragility in the face of global climate change, including taking steps to integrate climate-fragility considerations across our national governments.”
This statement has been preceded by the Meeting of G7 Foreign Ministers in Lübeck a year ago, where the Ministers first announced their commitment on tackling climate-fragility risks after receiving and discussing the report A New Climate for Peace: Taking Action on Climate and Fragility Risks, which was conducted by an independent international consortium led by adelphi. As a consequence, the foreign ministers decided to set up a working group with the task to evaluate the report and work out recommendations regarding possible implementation in time for their 2016 meeting.
With their latest declaration, the foreign ministers substantiated their commitment to attend to the matter of climate and fragility risks as posed in the report.
The impact of climate change is posing a growing threat to peace and security. Germany is therefore putting climate and security on the Security Council’s agenda.
Russia’s economic development minister warned last week that the EU’s plans to deploy a carbon tax at the bloc’s borders will not be in line with World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules, just as Brussels doubled down on the idea of green tariffs.
Few places have suffered more from the COVID-19 pandemic than southern China, the region where the novel coronavirus was first detected in the city of Wuhan. But it turned out that the pandemic is not the only calamity to befall south China this year. The region has been inundated by heavy rainfall since late May, creating a risk of catastrophic flooding.
Natural resources-based conflicts are sometimes made complex by non-climate push and pull factors, like unemployment and political tension. These factors should be taken into account when developing and implementing a peacebuilding strategy, making sure all stakeholders are at the table – including those fueling the conflict. The online workshop ‘Integrating peacebuilding and climate change mitigation efforts in natural resource management’, organised by the European Peacebuilding Liaison Office (EPLO) and adelphi, looked into this complex issue.