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Nexus 25 Project Launches New Podcast, “Reshaping Multilateralism”
In early March, the Nexus25 project officially launched a new podcast, “Reshaping Multilateralism,” a series at the intersection of food, climate, security, and migration. The first teaser episode provides an overview of today’s top nexus challenges and some initial solutions for multilateral leaders. To discuss, Host Thin Lei Win was joined by the three experts leading Nexus25‘s work:
- Michael Werz, a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and a Senior Adviser for North America and Multilateral Affairs to the Munich Security Conference;
- Erin Sikorsky, the Director of the Center for Climate and Security and the International Military Council on Climate and Security; and
- Nathalie Tocci, the Director of the Istituto Affari Internazionali and part-time Professor at the School of Transnational Governance at the European University Institute.
The Nexus25 project is a joint Istituto Affari Internazionali/Center for Climate and Security initiative funded by Stiftung Mercator. The teaser is available on the Nexus25 website here, or wherever you get your podcasts. The next episode, “The View from MSC,” will be released on March 28th.
BRIEFER: How the United States Can Prevent the Weaponization of Climate Migration in a Warming World: A Humane Approach
By Katelin Wright, 2021-22 Climate Security Fellow
The views expressed in this briefer are those of the author and do not represent the position of the Center for Climate and Security or the Council on Strategic Risks.
In the summer of 2021, several European Union (EU) countries began to see an influx of irregular migration from neighboring Belarus. Migrants, including children, from throughout the Middle East, Africa, and some as far away as Cuba, overwhelmed border officials in Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland as they attempted to enter the EU. The ensuing humanitarian crisis was not spontaneous but rather a well-calculated act of retaliation on behalf of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. In response to EU sanctions placed on Belarus over its repression of protests against a fraudulent presidential election, Lukashenko used vulnerable migrants and refugees as political pawns. Deploying a combination of misinformation and disinformation, Lukashenko encouraged people considering migration to come to Belarus as a means to enter the EU. The case of Belarus demonstrates how weaker states can employ unconventional tactics to fight against stronger nations. Although portrayed by the media as a new precedent, countries have weaponized migrants before. Cuba, Turkey, and Morocco, to name a few, have used similar tactics in the past. While weaponized migration might not be entirely new, it is likely to become increasingly common as intensifying climate change contributes to further human displacement and migration. In this context, nations, including the United States, should get ahead of the phenomenon by changing their approach to climate migration – through policies that recognize and address the role climate change plays in decisions to migrate.
This briefer explores the complex and multicausal drivers of migration–from escaping violence to displacement caused by climate change–and suggests how the United States can reform its immigration policies to mitigate the risks of weaponized climate-driven migration.
Confusing Causality with Correlation in the Climate and Security Discourse
Since climate change began to be discussed as a security issue, there has been a consistent and unfortunate oversimplification of the climate and security discourse. This mischaracterization centers on an argument which either unwittingly or deliberately confuses causality, correlation, and probability. The assertion often starts with: “There is no evidence that climate change causes conflict” or “There is no evidence that climate change causes migration.” (more…)
Double Whammy: Sudden and Slow-onset Disasters for Pacific Island States
Those involved in international climate policy often hear about the plight of Pacific Island states in the face of climate change (though, some argue, this has not been met with adequate attention by academic researchers). But in order to avoid becoming desensitized to the concerns of this part of the world, it is important to revisit and reprocess some of the serious dangers these nations face. A new synthesis report from the Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement, which follows a series of workshops last May, continues to shine a light on the problem, identifying the simple fact that these countries face the worst of both kinds of climate-exacerbated natural disasters: sudden-onset and slow-onset. As the report states: (more…)