REPORT
A New Climate for Peace
Taking Action on Climate and Fragility Risks
This independent report, commissioned by the G7 members, identifies seven compound climate-fragility risks that pose serious threats to the stability of states and societies in the decades ahead. Based on a thorough assessment of existing policies on climate change adaptation, development cooperation and humanitarian aid, and peacebuilding, the report recommends that the G7 take concrete action, both as individual members and jointly, to tackle climate-fragility risks and increase resilience to them.
BLOG
Resilience Compass
When climate change exacerbates conflicts and crises, resilience must be the compass for foreign policy. The Resilience Compass features news, reflections and opinions on climate change and fragility, with contributions from the Wilson Center’s New Security Beat, International Alert and guest authors.
RESOURCES
Factbook, Readings, Events
This collection of resources complements and extends the analysis of the report. It contains an interactive factbook allowing users to explore case studies from around the world and provides background readings and contextualized report and event summaries.
Europe Takes the Lead in Climate, Energy, and Security
09 August, 2018 by Zoe Dutton
With the tumultuous NATO summit and a simmering trade war dominating stateside headlines last month, the European Union’s progress on climate-security connections has received little attention. Three significant events herald what could be the start of a new era of climate-security policymaking—one under European leadership.
Mapping Climate Security: New Dashboard Tool Visualizes Complex Vulnerability in Asia
26 July, 2018 by Olivia Smith
In many parts of South and Southeast Asia, high population density and vulnerability to climate change combine with low levels of household resilience and poor governance to increase security concerns and the potential for political instability.
Coastal Resilience on Capitol Hill: Protecting the United States’ Infrastructure, Economy, and Security
25 July, 2018 by Rebecca Lorenzen
Moving beyond policy bias in the polarised debate on conflict and climate in Darfur
16 July, 2018 by Brendan Bromwich (King's College London)
Both those who argue for and those who refute climate-conflict links draw on Darfur to support their case. New analysis of political bias behind the environmental narratives and their critiques adds much-needed nuance to our understanding of when drought is – and is not – relevant to the conflict.
Photo Essay: A Look at How Climate Change Affects Poor Urban Communities in India and Indonesia
03 July, 2018 by Lubaina Rangwala (WRI India)
One of the biggest challenges to climate action is not only understanding the risks of flooding, extreme heat and other challenges, but how your community might respond to these risks. What are its strengths? How might policymakers augment existing capacities and address weaknesses?
Editor’s Pick: 10 Violent Land Conflicts
15 June, 2018 by adelphi
"Land degradation is a root cause of migration and a trigger of conflicts", said Monique Barbut, Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification in a recent interview with the ECC platform. Whether for growing crops, grazing animals or constructing houses – land is a prerequisite for human life. But global pressures on land are increasing and threaten millions of livelihoods - and thus peace and stability.
Climate change: A source of conflicts or a catalyzer for them?
06 June, 2018 by Planetary Security Initiative
Can climate change be the source of conflicts or is it merely one among several catalyzers that worsen the pre-existing condition on the ground in some cases? And how can we avoid climate change mitigation and adaptation policies not to become a new source of tensions between groups in society?
The Water Wars Within: Preventing Subnational Water Conflicts
31 May, 2018 by Scott Moore
The world’s water resources have come under ever-greater strain. At the same time, institutional frameworks for managing water resources remain weak throughout most of the globe. Only about a quarter of the world’s international river basins have adequate governance arrangements to prevent and resolve conflicts. Does this mean that we can expect the 21st century to be wracked by water wars?
Environmental peacebuilding: What is it good for?
29 May, 2018 by Nina Engwicht (Peace Academy Rhineland-Palatinate)
Environmental peacebuilding strives to reduce conflict risks associated with natural resources and to enable societies to profit fully from their natural resource wealth. In order to be successful, it must follow a context-sensitive approach. Nina Engwicht shows that, in Sierra Leone, the environmental risk factors for conflict have only been addressed at the surface.
Europe and Central Asia's quest to achieve Zero Hunger is threatened by poverty and climate change
25 May, 2018 by FAO
Achieving Zero Hunger in Europe and Central Asia requires supporting smallholders and family farmers to reduce poverty and, in the face of climate change, managing natural resources in a sustainable way, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said on 16 May 2018.
A Watershed Moment for Iraqi Kurdistan: Subnational Hydropolitics and Regional Stability
25 May, 2018 by Marcus King (George Washington’s Elliott School and Center for Climate and Security)
Iraqi Kurdistan is blessed with abundant water resources, but these resources are under increasing stress. Changing demographics, dam building in neighboring countries, and drought have driven Kurdish hydropolitics to a critical juncture where two distinct water futures are possible—and both have implications for regional stability and for U.S. interests.