Climate finance took centre stage on the agenda of COP27, which took place in Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt from 6-18 November 2022, but climate-security also received remarkable attention. A deep divide exists between rich, industrialised countries on the one hand and developing countries with historically much lower emissions on the other.
The region of Akkar in Northern Lebanon plays host to one of the oldest coniferous forests in the wider region and as such is a biodiversity hotspot that locals depend on for their livelihoods. Shepherds often use the forest as a grazing area, while logging of the forest has tremendous value for the local economy.
The U.S. Department of Defense spends many millions of dollars on wargaming every year. For anyone who has participated in such games, the recent news about Taiwan might provoke an uncomfortable sense of déjà vu. The sequence of events — a visit by a prominent American politician, aggressive People’s Liberation Army posturing, and a U.S.
This October the yearly Berlin Climate Security Conference (BCSC) took place against the backdrop of growing international focus on climate security nexus.
On the 10th of November, the Conflict and Environment Observatory (CEOBS) and Scientists for Global Responsibility (SGR) published their report ‘Estimating the military’s global greenhouse gas emissions’, comparing the military carbon footprint on a global scale.
Months of the military conflict caused by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine have caused significant damage and led to the unfolding of a humanitarian crisis. Civilian infrastructure has been destroyed and damage has been done to the environment. This war adversely affects the global climate causing significant carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.
Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is at risk of conflict as tensions between factions are rising in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The fragile peace in the country is based on the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords, which ended the war that erupted after the break-up of Yugoslavia. The Dayton Accords divided BiH into the Federation of BiH, with the majority of the population consisting of Croats and Bosniaks, and the Serb-dominated Republika Srpska.
The invasion of Ukraine by Russia brings together a range of security issues: energy, military, finance, food, climate, etc.
In September 2022, International Alert published its report titled “From diagnosis to action: Five lessons for addressing climate security risks”. This report distils lessons learned from International Alert’s 15 years of climate, security and peacebuilding programming.
