A recent conference in Addis Ababa organized by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), mixed parliamentarians from 14 African Union (AU) states with climate change experts. According to the FES-AU liaison, the “dialogue [was] aimed at enhancing the MPs’ knowledge and skills on policy issues.” During the dialogue, a number of climate experts bemoaned the excess of rhetoric, and lack of action, on the issue by African countries, and called on these nations to more concretely recognize climate change as a threat to peace and security on the continent. Regional climate experts like Debay Tadesse at the Institute for Security Studies in Addis Ababa explained the rationale for treating climate as a security issue, stating:Climate change may not directly cause violence, but it interacts with and exacerbates existing problems. Social tensions and the potential for violence could increase where the arrival of a climate-displaced population causes competition. As the African population continues to rise and the demand for resources continues to grow, there is significant potential for conflicts over natural resources to intensify.
