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Action on Climate and Security Risks - Review of Progress 2017

adelphi planetary security progress report - action-on-climate-and-security-risks.jpg

A new report "Action on Climate and Security Risks: Review of Progress 2017" has just been launched which sums up the progress made on the climate and security nexus in 2017.

The report comes after a year of ongoing and worsening political conflict and humanitarian crises. At the same time, the impacts of climate change have hit home.  Hurricanes, floods and tropical storms have buffeted the Caribbean, North America and South Asia, whilst drought and desertification push thousands more towards extreme hunger in the Sahel. Arctic ice is at its thinnest level ever and a vast fragment of the Antarctic ice shelf broke off.

However, the report finds that there have been positive developments in the climate and security space in the past year, including acknowledgements of climate-fragility risks in national and global fora, policies and strategies, such as the Australian Senate Enquiry into the issue, the upcoming Global Compact for Migration, and the Lake Chad UN Security Council resolution and subsequently  announced comprehensive risk assessment.

“These practical steps towards ensuring our actions are reflective of the link between climate and security are few and far between – the time is ripe for them to be scaled up, driven deeper and multiplied to have lasting impact,” explains the report’s author, Janani Vivekananda of adelphi. “There are now a range of international processes - such as the Sustainable Development Goals and the Global Compact for Migration where we can move the climate and security agenda from analysis into action.”

The report is launched in advance of the third annual Planetary Security Conference which is held under the auspices of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and will feature a range of experts from the Iraqi Minister of Water Hassan El Janabi, the Red Cross Secretary General As Sy, SIPRI Director Dan Smith and former US Assistant Secretary of Defense, Sharon Burke.