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.
French environment minister Nicolas Hulot has resigned live on national radio in a surprise move that will come as a blow to president Emmanuel Macron’s green credentials. Nicolas Hulot had not made the French president aware of his decision to quit, he told radio presenters, adding his time in office had been an ‘accumulation of disappointments’.
Liberia’s largest palm oil producer, Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL) pulls out of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) – how can rural communities cope with the impacts? The forests near GVL’s Liberian plantations are not only sacred sites of the region's people but also heavily populated with chimpanzees, leopards, pygmy hippopotamus and forest elephants which are significant not only to the local ecosystem but globally.
Finding ways to keep communities alive after mine closures
Mine closures have caused social and political turmoil in many regions, for example in South Africa. But there are ways of planning and managing the phase-out so that when the inevitable happens, people are better prepared. A new study looks at opportunities beyond mining and finds that infrastructure that supports mining can also be put to new use.
Moving Towards a Global Framework for Safe Climate Migration
Population pressure, a lack of economic opportunities, environmental degradation, and new forms of travel are contributing to human displacement and unsafe migration on an unprecedented scale. And as millions more people see climate change erode their livelihoods, the problem will get worse in the absence of visionary global leadership.