U.S. Secretary of State sits with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and his counterparts amid the G7 Ministerial Meetings. [State Department Photo/Public Domain]
This is a crosspost from Climate Diplomacy
On 19 January 2017, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan hosted a roundtable seminar with international experts and country representatives to follow up on G7 efforts to address climate-fragility risks.
Climate change is a ‘threat multiplier’ that will increase state fragility, fuel social unrest and potentially unleash violent conflict. Japan, as part of the Group of 7 (G7), has recognized the resulting challenges for sustainable economic development, peace and stability. Following up on the independent report “A New Climate for Peace: Taking Action on Climate and Fragility Risks” commissioned by G7 members, the foreign ministers of the G7, in April 2016, reiterated their commitment to take preventive steps and integrate climate-fragility considerations into their planning.
adelphi has partnered with the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) to facilitate a broader discussion on climate-fragility risks in Japan, and act on the findings and implications of the G7 report for Japan. In 2016, several expert workshops were organized to identify climate-fragility risks for Japan and the ways in which to address them.
The meeting held on 19 January 2017 was an opportunity to deepen the discussion and consider recent findings on issues such as: climate, migration and conflict, agriculture, disasters and peace, resource scarcity and competition and other timely risks that have implications for Japanese policy makers. Aside from G7 representatives and Japanese officials, a number of knowledgeable institutions participated in the event, including adelphi, the University of Tokyo, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the Center for Climate and Security, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
Alexander Carius, Managing Director of adelphi, presented relevant research conducted until now on climate-fragility risks in G7 countries and issues to be investigated further.
In addition, adelphi and IGES are jointly publishing a series of five policy papers on climate-fragility risks in Japan and the Asia-Pacific region, as well as a workshop summary. These short papers focus on different issues to contextualize the global discourse on the topic and show its relevance for Japan and the region. The papers are available in English as well as Japanese (日本語) and can be accessed here:
- Climate-Fragility Risks – The Global Perspective
- Climate Fragility Risks in Japan
- Climate-Fragility Risks in Asia – The Development Nexus
- Foreign Policy Implications of Climate-Fragility Risks for Japan
- Climate and Fragility-Risks in Japanese Development Cooperation: Implications of Adaptation and Peacebuilding Experiences
- Workshop Documentation: Climate-Fragility Risks in Japan and the Asia-Pacific Region
The G7 seminar was followed by a meeting of the ‘G7 Working Group on Climate and Fragility’ on 20 January 2017 to substantiate the latest declaration of the foreign ministers.
