Caitlin Werrell and Francesco Femia, Co-Directors of the Center for Climate and Security, on the panel “Analysis of Syria: Lessons Learned” at the Planetary Security Conference, the Hague, 2 November, 2015

All eyes are on the international climate negotiations at the 21st Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Paris. However, the risks associated with a changing climate are so far-reaching, that it will take a broad range of international, regional, national and sub-national institutions to address them. These institutions will have to conceive of and implement actions that go well beyond what is agreed in Paris this month.

In this context, two conferences – one hosted by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and one by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs – were held in late October/ early November, respectively. Among other objectives, a question both of these conferences sought to answer was: “Since climate change poses significant risks to international security, what can be done to make our governance systems more resilient?” (more…)