Transcript Christoph Bals (Germanwatch e.V.): Climate Change as a

Climate Change as a Threat to
Human Security :
Example Southern Africa
Christoph Bals, Germanwatch
McPlanet 2007, TU Berlin
6th of May 2007, 9-11 a.m.
Tipping Points
Drought in Southern Africa
• Extreme droughts expected in Africa:
“by 2020 between 75 and 250 million
people will be exposed to an increase of
water stress due to climate change”
(IPCC, WGI, 2007)
• climate change threatens livelihoods
and lives in Southern Africa
Human Security
• Definition by Kofi Annan 2003:
“Human security can no longer be understood in
purely military terms. Rather, it must encompass
economic development, social justice, environmental
protection, democratisation, disarmament, and
respect for human rights and the rule of law“
(UN,2003)
• not only threats to a nation but also to a large number
of people within a country (world civil rights);
• not only military threats, but other threats like CC
• not only military answers, but mainly disaster
prevention through good governance, human rights,
de-marginalisation and empowerment.
UN Security Council
• CC was raised as an issue at the UN
Security Council on 17th of April 2007:
• Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a
“long-term global response” to deal with
climate change, along with unified efforts
involving the Security Council, Member
States and other international bodies to
deal with the problem of scare resources,
warning that countries’ lack of access to
water, energy and other essentials can lead
to conflict.”
Climate Change and Human Security
• Security discourse today dominated by
military security “solutions”
• In line with Annan’s definition of human
security: need to correct this
understanding
• Move security debate from the issue of
military “solutions” towards conflict
prevention
Climate Change and Human Security
• Conflict prevention regarding climate
change means mitigation and
adaptation
• At the same time: mitigation and
adaptation serve as prevention of nonclimate-change-connected threats and
conflicts e.g. energy security, water and
food security, resource curse
Energy Demand
Access to Energy
Climate Security
Energy Security
Nuclear Security
Bio Fuels
Energy Supply
Ressource Curse
Climate Change and Human Security
• Additional role of climate security in the
climate debate?
• Additional role of climate security in the
security debate?
• No naiveté:
– conflicts between energy security and
climate security (or food security)
– US-interpretation: holistic approach
(energy security, climate security, ec.
growth)
Conclusions
• Combining climate change and human
security debate can serves different
purposes
• To solve the contradictions between
climate and energy security can add
additional strength to climate debate
• There are strong contradictions and an
attempt to neutralise climate targets.
Thank you for your attention!