"Whatever we do now, things are going to be worse in forty years." Participants in the Climate Change and Security Panel, which was part of the "Making the Difference" Conference of the European Commission (EC), discussed the topic with a great sense of urgency. From June 3-4, the EC had invited the international community of policy makers and practitioners in conflict prevention and crisis response to Brussels, to examine and learn from responses to crises and security threats. Despite the sound of the above statement, the spirit of the debate was not fatalist. Participants focused rather on the questions of how to communicate the security implications of climate change to policy makers and what to do about them.

The need for a credible messenger that would be able to influence the international debate on the issue was repeatedly stressed. Participants agreed that the EU should maintain its leadership role in climate issues and push the agenda further to include the security dimension. Linking the consequences of climate change to current security threats, such as state fragility, could be a key to success: "The security community has to understand that it can no longer guarantee security in a world of uncontrolled climate change." This awareness along with realistic estimates of adaptation costs could also contribute to a success at the coming Copenhagen summit.

However, the discussants agreed that besides a necessary breakthrough at the international level, considerable additional efforts would be needed to deal with the already inevitable risks of climate change for human security. Institutions that can cope with these uncertainties need to be built. Therefore, in development cooperation and humanitarian assistance, a strategic shift from reactive measures to risk management is highly warranted. For this, budgets not only need to increase, but significant resources should be directed towards preventive bottom-up approaches that create resilience for vulnerable communities at the local level. (Joeran Altenberg)



Additional information about the event is available here: http://www.making-the-difference.eu/

Published in: ECC-Newsletter, June 2009