The whole world must hold leaders to account, to urgently implement the agreements made during the Paris accord on climate change, to head off a civilizational threat, which transcends borders and governments. In December last year, countries agreed to address the problem of climate change for the long term, rather than a stop-gap measure, to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions in the second half of this century. We must celebrate their effort. However, the security impacts of climate change show how the consequences of climate change can slip beyond our control and understanding, by spilling across borders, creating new consequences which wildly run out of control.
It is vital, therefore, that civil society groups including my own, the Global Military Advisory Council on Climate Change, hold governments fast to their targets, and explain the consequences of failure.
For the complete article, please see Government Gazette.
Government Gazette
A new start for European foreign policy
The signing ceremony of the Paris Agreement is an important opportunity for Europe to make the successful lessons from Paris into pillars of its diplomatic strategy. In June 2016, European Heads of State and Government will discuss a new “Global Strategy” on security and foreign policy. Delivering the Paris Agreement must be placed directly at its core if Europe wants to stay safe and prosperous.
Climate Change, Disasters, and Security: Unconventional Approaches to Building Stability
It is “not sufficient to look at history for lessons on how we should prepare for and prevent future security risks in a climate change world,” said Swathi Veeravalli, research scientist at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Geospatial Research Laboratory, at the Wilson Center on January 14. Climate change and the extreme weather events it brings pose an “unprecedented” threat to human security.
International Water Cooperation Opens the Door to Peacemaking
Although water is an essential input for agriculture and industrial production, it is also scarce in many regions. When it crosses international borders via shared rivers, lakes and aquifers, it can become a source of conflict and contention. Yet while water can be a source of instability, especially in the face of climate change, it can also be a source or catalyst for cooperation and even peace.
The Gulf Cooperation Council’s grid operator is studying the feasibility of a cable to Ethiopia, which would run through currently war-torn Yemen.
Islands need support to face shocking impacts of 1.5C global warming
Small Island States will be facing dramatically higher adaptation costs to build resilience against the kind of impacts the IPCC projects in its most recent Special Report. Thoriq Imbrahim, former Environment and Energy Minister of the Maldives, urges the international community to attend to the political demands of countries particularly exposed to the impacts of climate change and also confront loss and damage with renewed urgency.
Three years after the talks that delivered the Paris Agreement, the world is gathering in Poland to take stock of the progress that has been made and to raise its ambitions. But as new nationalist leaders take power, has the world lost its appetite for climate action?