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THE EUROPEAN – SECURITY AND DEFENCE UNION
Taking climate security seriously (ed/ak, Berlin) It was a sign of commitment: on 22 June, High Representative/Vice President Federica Mogherini invited ministers, parliamentarians, leading officials and experts from international organisations, civil society and think tanks from around the world to a high-level event on “Climate, Peace and Security: The Time for Action“. Ten years after a European Commission paper on Climate Change and International Security and as the finale to the global European Climate Diplomacy Week1, this conference put climate security high on the European agenda. The issue was already prominently featured in the EU’s Global Strategy on Foreign and Security Policy from 2016 and was followed up earlier this year by the Council Conclusions on Climate Diplomacy2, which recognised the conference as an important step towards addressing the climate-security nexus. The government officials and experts unanimously stressed the urgency and importance of tackling the threats that climate change pose to the security, peace and stability of countries and regions worldwide. Those threats are manifold, from drought and water scarcity – forcing people to leave their homeland and making them vulnerable to the recruitment of violent extremist organisations – to extreme weather events, threatening the livelihoods of millions. The participants of the conference emphasised that climate change has to be considered as a multiplier of existing instability and security risks. What is the role of the Union in this scenario? Ms Mogherini made clear that climate change and security are global issues
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Climate change cooperation and climate diplomacy can be good entry points for preventing conflicts and strengthening trust. A whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach can move us forward.” Thomas Greminger, Secretary-General of the OSCE (via twitter)
Participants of the high-level climate change event of 22 June. In the middle:
Sushma Swraij, Indian External Affairs Minister (right) and Thomas Greminge
What does climate change mean? Global temperatures rise
Warming oceans
Arctic sea ice decline
The Earth’s average temperature has increased by 1.1 °C (NASA data) during the 20th century, and most of the warming has occurred in the past 35 years. Even though this may sound like a small amount, it is however an unusual event in the planet’s recent history. Small changes in temperature correspond to enormous changes in the environment.
As the planet warms, it’s the ocean that gets most of the extra energy by absorbing much of the increased heat from the atmosphere, with the top 700 meters of ocean showing significant warming since 1971 (+0.5°C, NOAA data). The plants and animals that live in the ocean must adapt to the warming, or die.
Both the extent and thickness of Arctic sea ice has rapidly declined over the last several decades. Arctic sea ice reaches its minimum each September. According to NASA data, September Arctic sea ice is now declining at a rate of 13.2% percent per decade. The Arctic Ocean is expected to become essentially ice free in the summer before the mid-century.
The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have decreased in mass. According to NASA, Greenland lost an average of 281 billion tons of ice per year between 1993 and 2016, while Antarctica lost about 119 billion tons during the same time period. The rate of Antarctica ice mass loss has tripled in the last decade.
Photo: © NASA Goddard Space Flight Center,
Photo: © Goddard Space Flight Center,
CC BY 2.0, Flickr.com
CC BY 2.0, Flickr.com
Photo: © climate.nasa.gov
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Photo: Matthias Hiltner, CC BY 2.0, Flickr.com
Shrinking ice sheets
