Experts’ statement calls to acknowledge links between climate change and conflict

"The IPCC report clearly shows that climate change increases the risk of conflict. Only by considering the complex interactions between climate change and security in our policies and actions will we be able to promote peace and resilience in a changing climate", states PIK director Johan Rockström.

Besides the two PIK Directors, other highly relevant security policy actors like Wolfgang Ischinger, former President of the Munich Security Conference Foundation, and Laurence Tubiana, President and CEO of the European Climate Foundation, have signed the statement. It urges decisionmakers to consider the findings on climate change and conflict in the IPCC report on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability published in February. Following the report’s publication, some political actors over-simplified and downplayed these findings, implying that peacebuilding policy should not be concerned with climate change.

The joint statement offers recommendations how to better integrate the fight against climate change and efforts to prevent and respond to conflicts. “Addressing the climate-security nexus is an essential component of climate justice” it reads, continuing: “The international community should do whatever it takes to protect those who have contributed the least to the climate crisis, and already face the greatest risks to their lives and livelihoods, from the terrible prospect of violent conflict.”

The statement is endorsed by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), and:

• Adriana Erthal Abdenur, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Plataforma CIPÓ
• Alexander Carius, Director, adelphi
• Adam Day, Director of Programmes, Centre for Policy Research—United Nations University
• Prof. Dr. Ottmar Edenhofer, Director, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)
• Comfort Ero, President & CEO, International Crisis Group
• Shenggen Fan, Professor at the College of Economics and Management at China Agricultural University, Beijing
• Andrew Gilmour, Executive Director, Berghof Foundation
• Christophe Hodder, first United Nations Climate Security and Environmental Advisor to Somalia
• Dr. Saleemul Huq, Director, International Centre for Climate Change and Development, Independent University Bangladesh
• Michael Keating, Executive Director, European Institute of Peace
• Peter Laderach, Co-lead CGIAR FOCUS Climate Security, CGIAR
• Ambassador (ret.) Wolfgang Ischinger, President of the Foundation Council, Munich Security Conference Foundation
• Ottilia Anna Maunganidze, Head of Special Projects, Office of the Executive Director, Institute for Security Studies
• General Tom Middendorp, Chairman International Military Council on Climate and Security (IMCCS)
• Coral Pasisi, Senior Advisor to Director General of the SPC, The Pacific Community (SPC)
• Laurence Tubiana, President and CEO, European Climate Foundation
• Prof. Dr. Johan Rockström, Director, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)