Alex Kershaw – international and regional security blog

–     ‘Climate change is not a far-off problem. It is happening now and is having very real consequences on people’s lives. Climate change is disrupting national economies, costing us dearly today and even more tomorrow.  But there is a growing recognition that affordable, scalable solutions are available now that will enable us all to leapfrog to cleaner, more resilient economies.’ [1]

–      ‘there’s one issue that will define the contours of this century more dramatically than any other, and that is the urgent and growing threat of a changing climate’[2](Obama)

The issue of the environment has been thrown into a spotlight this past week following the UN summit on climate change. More than a 100 heads of state came to New York, to discuss climate change and to figure out ways in which to limit the effects of it. Pledges and commitments were made that focused on; achieving carbon neutrality, becoming less reliant on fossil fuels and bringing in the private sector with financial institutions vowing to mobilize more than 200 billion dollars’ worth of finance by the end of 2015 to help create a more environmentally stable world.

So, why is the environment such a big issue and why should its degradation be considered such a security threat?

The environment is one of the few things that all of humanity shares, it provides for us and is the space in which we are all live and is thus fundamental to our existence. The emerging issues surrounding climate change has sparked a lot of debate, in terms of what to do about it, if it is actually occurring and should we consider it a security issue. In terms of security issues, a dichotomy arises between too academic camps about what should be considered a security threat. Prominent Realist thinkers such as Kenneth Waltz see security as being based around force and military power and security scholars who want to widen the topic of security such as Barry Buzan want to include topics such as climate change that pose threats to all of us. In this blog I aim to lay out an argument about why the environment and its degradation should be considered a security threat. Furthermore, I will highlight how these environmental issues are not a security issue that can be easily solved and try to address some of the issues that are presented via climate change and various states take on the issue.

Climate changes’ effects

Firstly, at the moment it is evident that sea levels are on the rise. This has the potential to effect hundreds of millions of people who live next to the sea forcing people to find new homes in order to escape the sea’s approach and could lead to the displacement of many communities. Examples where rising sea levels will cause huge issues and have already began to be felt include Bangladesh that has a quarter of its land being less than seven feet above sea level[3] and the Maldives that could become the first state to disappear entirely due to the rise of sea levels[4].  As the sea level rises it will not just be developing countries that will be effected but will affect every country that has a coast line.    (rising water levels in bBangladesh- http://www.dhakatribune.com/environment/2013/apr/21/climate-change-locals-ignored)

Secondly, as the population of the globe increases (predicted to be 9 billion by 2050[5]) reliance on food sources will grow however ‘approximately one quarter of greenhouse gas emissions come from Land use.’[6] Agriculture however is a necessity for humans and yet it accounts for a considerable percentage of greenhouse gases. As the population increases, more pollutants will be pumped into the environment causing more climate change that will have adverse effects on the world. This adverse effects will/can cause destruction of organic eco systems, loss of land for species making them endangered and contamination of water due to pesticides.

Thirdly, as the percentage of humans living in cities accounts for 54% of the total global population[7], and is going up humanity will become increasingly become more vulnerable. This is because cities concentrate people and thus increase the potential for single environmental events such as a hurricane or flooding to effect increasingly larger percentages of the human population. This can be seen in events such as hurricane Katrina that affected New Orleans, Brisbane’s floods and the drought that is increasingly affecting California and cities such as LA and San Francisco.

 Hurricane Katrina after effects (http://www.illinoisphoto.com/main/v/hurricane/new-orleans/aftermath+of+Hurricane+Katrina.jpg.html)

Political issues

These are but a few reasons as to why climate change and environmental degradation should be brought to the forefront of security planning. However, in the UN summit on the environment certain leaders did not turn up, this included the premier of China (Xi Jinping) and the prime minister of India (Narenda Modi) as well as Vladimir Putin.  With China, Russia and India coming 1^st, 3^rd and 4^th on the ranking for emitting carbon dioxide emissions,[8] highlighting how these countries have an alternate view on carbon emissions.

These countries have legitimate arguments against the west, about how they should be allowed to use fossil fuels in the same way the western states did when they were modernizing. Although, China has somewhat pledged to support climate change initiatives, the lack of leadership attending the UN summit shows how its priorities lie elsewhere and away from climate change. This highlights how there is also a political dimension to the pursuit of combating climate change, and how in lacking a coordinated vision on how to deal with the issue, securitization against its threats are limited in how able they can be dealt with.

conclusion 

Overall, whilst the UN summit helped shine a light on the issue of climate change, many other problems face the world such as the fight against terrorism, poverty and disease such as the Ebola outbreak. These issues I feel though are small compared to the threat posed by climate change. One problem though is that countries such as China and India that contribute greatly to climate change, may not be willing to take an active role in fighting it until it directly effects them. This may be too late for many people and states though, including many low lying countries such as Bangladesh and the Maldives. We should therefore put a consistent effort into securitizing climate change and make it the most prescient issue of our time as it is a threat not to a few but will be a threat to all. The discussion of these issues in arenas such as the UN is a positive step but it is currently not enough, all countries have to unite to fight climate change.

 Male, capital of maldives – could be the first coutnry to be lost to rising sea levels – http://www.remotelands.com/destination/maldives_13011009_Male

[1] http://www.un.org/climatechange/summit/

[2] http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/09/23/remarks-president-un-climate-change-summit

[3] http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/29/world/asia/facing-rising-seas-bangladesh-confronts-the-consequences-of-climate-change.html?_r=0

[4] http://www.theguardian.com/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2013/sep/26/maldives-test-case-climate-change-action

[5] http://www.un.org/climatechange/summit/action-areas/

[6] http://www.un.org/climatechange/summit/action-areas/ – agriculture action statement

[7]http://www.who.int/gho/urban_health/situation_trends/urban_population_growth_text/en/

[8] http://www.actionforourplanet.com/#/top-10-polluting-countries/4541684868