Addressing Climate Risks: Capacity Strengthening and Regional Cooperation in the Andes

On 23 January 2012, regional experts met in Bogotá, Colombia to discuss the interlinkages between climate change and security, as well as domestic responses and regional approaches to climate impacts. The Regional Dialogue was organized by adelphi, the Center for International Studies (CEI) and the Program on Armed Conflict and Peacebuilding (ConPaz) at the Universidad de los Andes in Colombia, and supported by the German Federal Foreign Office.

The Andean region will be among those most severely affected by climate change and variability, particularly due to strong warming, more frequent and greater threat of extreme weather, precipitation variability and intensified El Niño cycles. Glacier retreat is already affecting and will continue to impact water supply and energy security in large rural and urban areas in these countries.

The Regional Dialogue placed strong emphasis on the existing vulnerability of local communities in the Andes, evidenced by the heavy human and economic toll recently caused by La Niña floods in Colombia. The region’s long-standing and deepening structural factors of poverty, exclusion and inequality strongly amplify the population’s vulnerability.

Participants in the Dialogue put forward three key recommendations regarding national and sub-national responses to climate change. Firstly, it is vital to focus the debate on the security of the population’s well-being and livelihood protection, rather than on national security. Secondly, there is a dire need to adopt permanent proactive and preventative policies to counteract the effects of climate change in the region in addition to episodic emergency responses. And thirdly, national and local capacities need to be strengthened to increase resilience to the effects of climate change.

Andean and broader Latin American regional cooperation are also crucial to face the challenges. A focus on eco-regions that brings together stakeholders from civil society, the private sector and government was a key recommendation for increased effectiveness against climate risks. Already institutionalized cooperation in the region is a great stepping stone for increased collaboration in the Andes.

Further Information:

Policy-Brief
www.adelphi.de/files/upl…

The Initiative of the German Federal Foreign Office on Climate Change and Security
www.ecc-platform.org/ind…

Project
www.adelphi.de/en/resour…