Senior British MEP Graham Watson has called for the creation of an EU special representative on climate security.
His demand comes after parliament last week debated what role the EU's security and defence policy should play in climate-driven natural disasters.
Watson, who is chairman of a global parliamentary network called the Climate Parliament, warned of the "security implications" of climate change.
The former ALDE group leader said, "We have to face the facts. Just this week the World Bank published a report showing that, without more radical action, we are likely to warm our planet by an average of three degrees celsius, and possibly even four degrees celsius.
"That means more tropical storms, sea level rise and drought. We cannot afford this - my own constituency of south west England has recently seen torrential rain and over 50 flood warnings across Bristol, Somerset and Devon."
"These climate impacts - whether they come with a bang or are a gradual drip-drip process - will have security implications. It could be water wars, drought-fuelled famines or flood refugees. We would be fools to not start thinking about the military implications now."
Watson, a British Liberal MEP, said the commission should ensure that climate security is "mainstreamed" in all areas of EU common security and defence policy reports, spending and strategy.
He added, "I would also add that we need an EU special representative on climate security. I fear that without one very little would happen."
His call for such as post was backed last week by parliament's foreign affairs committee.
For the complete article, please see TheParliament.com.
Colombia’s long-standing internal conflict and the country’s contribution to climate change share one common root cause: land concentration. Policies to strengthen access to land and to ensure sustainable land use might therefore hold the key to promoting peacebuilding in Colombia, while simultaneously reducing emissions.
As disasters wreak havoc all over South Asia, health impacts have increasingly emerged as a major concern for communities and governments in the region. It underscores the need for concerted efforts towards building synergies between the Paris Agreement, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, particularly now, in the post-disaster reconstruction phase, to ensure “building back better” and future disaster prevention.
In the Inner Mongolian county of Horinger, Northwestern China, afforestation efforts have transformed a barren, dusty landscape into a pine forest. Planting trees has diminished the sandstorms, boosted biodiversity and improved the environment generally. As the climate emergency worsens, the potential for planted trees to draw carbon out of the atmosphere is being re-examined. What can the world learn from the Chinese experience with afforestation?
Two events in August 2019 underlined the complexity of paving the way to a climate-neutral world: the publishing of the new IPCC report and the Amazon fires. Both events demand that climate diplomats move beyond a narrowed focus on energy in decarbonisation debates.