Climate Security goes Transatlantic!

A new series of papers from the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) advances understanding of the linkages between climate change and national security, and sets out options for transatlantic policy responses.

The papers, commissioned by GMF’s Climate & Energy Program, address the intersection of climate change and security from several different angles. adelphi’s Dennis Taenzler and Alexander Carius frame both risks and opportunities arising from climate change with an eye towards developing multilateral adaptation strategies, in their article “Future Landscapes of Conflict or Cooperation? Climate Security Needs Transatlantic Leadership“. The appropriate responses to the risks of climate change will not be limited to one country, nor to the military domain; responses must rather be both multilateral and multi-faceted, encompassing the full range of available policies that includes development cooperation; conflict prevention; humanitarian assistance; and climate change adaptation and mitigation. By designing these instruments in a conflict-sensitive way, the transatlantic partners can help bring climate change concerns into the mainstream of development, foreign, and security practices.

The new paper series was first published on 16 November. Other contributions to the series come from the University of Texas, E3G and the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).