On the 12th of July, 2018, Japan reiterated its leadership on climate security, with its Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosting an international conference on climate change and fragility in the Asia-Pacific Region. More than 130 experts in climate science, finance, regional studies, business and government attended to discuss climate-induced challenges in the Asia-Pacific region. The focus on was on how regions and countries could ensure sustainable economic and societal development while managing pressing challenges of extreme weather events, food (in)security, migration, and rapid urbanization.
As it happened, the conference was held amidst one of Japan’s most torrential climate disasters. Heavy rainfall had caused landslides and flooding across the nation, which, on the day of the conference claimed a death toll of 200 persons. As each conference speaker dedicated their opening to the ongoing climate disaster, it became one of the core focal points of the conference. It reinforced that climate disasters can strike at any time, and that fragility to climate change in the Asia-Pacific Region must be taken seriously. This point was also underlined in the keynote address by PSI Consortium expert and adelphi’s Managing-Director Alexander Carius, that was moderated by PSI Consortium expert and Senior Fellow for International Affairs at Center for Climate and Security, Shiloh Fetzek.
The conference followed a string of activity by the Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the subject, including a 2017 roundtable seminar on climate change and fragility implications on international security, a 2017 released report titled the Analysis and Proposal of Foreign Policies Regarding the Impact of Climate Change on Fragility in the Asia-Pacific Region, as well as an expert follow-up meeting on the report held in 2018.
More generally, this event sought to take the climate security nexus to the corporate and financial sectors of Japan, underlining Japanese business interests with overseas operations in the Asia-Pacific region, that are vulnerable to natural disasters. The experts took part in an exercise, developed by PSI-Consortium partner Center for Climate and Security. In this exercise they were required to take policy decisions in a fictitious context in a fragile region affected by climate risks. The conference encouraged a crossover of expertise to adequately develop response capabilities in the region.
Shiloh Fetzek participated in the meeting and published an opinion piece analysing the balance of power in the Asia-Pacific, while making a point that climate change is still being factored into US Department of Defense’s strategy planning, albeit not alone. Other countries in South and East Asia and the oceanic islands are also encountering changing climate security challenges with geopolitical implications.