By Pete Souza
President Obama and Prime Minister Trudeau issued a U.S.-Canada Joint Statement on Climate, Energy, and Arctic Leadership today. The statement clearly recognizes the links between climate change, state fragility, and national security. The leaders both agreed to continue to cooperate internationally to address these challenges throughout their defense, diplomacy and development policies and specifically through the G7. Importantly, this bi-lateral agreement reinforces the multi-lateral commitment at the G7 to more deeply address the intersection of climate change and state fragility. The text from the agreement reads:
Recognizing the particular impact of climate change on countries already dealing with conflict and fragility, the leaders commit to addressing the intersection of climate change and security as an issue for foreign, defense, and development policies. Through the G-7 working group on climate and security and elsewhere, both sides will work together to support sound analysis, practical recommendations, and meaningful cooperation to address climate-fragility risks.
For more on the cooperation between G-7 nations on climate change and fragility see the New Climate for Peace report and online toolkit.