Abstract
As perception of climate change as a threat to humanity and to ecosystems grows, the rapidly growing literature increasingly refers to the notion of “climate change and security,” for which there is as yet no single agreed definition. Despite the extent of literature already published, there are at least three remaining gaps: (1) Added theoretical value: How does “climate change and security” differ from similar notions such as “climate crisis” and “climate emergency”? What theoretical gains can be made by securing against climate change? (2) Role of non-state actors: The traditional concept of security is tightly bound to the notion of national security, but the climate change and security discourse opens the door to the participation of non-state actors such as the business sector, local government, and citizens. How do they take part in ensuring security? (3) Regional imbalance: Most of the literature on climate change and security published so far comes from Europe and North America. As other regions, such as Asia, are just as affected, more voices should be heard from those regions. This issue aims to address some of these gaps. The nine articles in this issue address the notion of “climate change and security” through empirical work while theoretically contributing to several themes relating to the climate change and security discourse.
Highlights
As scientific understanding of climate change has gained wide acceptance, and as most people around the globe perceive it as a threat to humanity and to ecosystems, the rapidly growing literature on this subject increas‐ ingly refers to the concept of “climate change and secu‐ rity.”
What is the value added by using the term “cli‐ mate change and security”? How does it differ from similar expressions such as “climate crisis,” “climate emergency,” “mitigation,” “adaptation,” and “disaster
Politics and Governance, 2021, Volume 9, Issue 4, Pages 1–4 management”? From a theoretical viewpoint, secur‐ ing against climate change—securitization—does not sit well with traditional notions of security
Summary
As scientific understanding of climate change has gained wide acceptance, and as most people around the globe perceive it as a threat to humanity and to ecosystems, the rapidly growing literature on this subject increas‐ ingly refers to the concept of “climate change and secu‐ rity.” there is no single agreed definition of this concept. Most of the lit‐ erature published to date on climate change and secu‐ rity has been written by authors in Europe and North America and focuses mostly on cases in Africa, the Middle East, and the Americas Other regions, such as Asia, are severely affected by climate change, experts from there are under‐represented, and few case studies from there have been reported. Security is closely linked to countries’ geopolitical and cultural contexts, so what constitutes “climate change and security” may dif‐ fer from one region to another This thematic issue aims to address some of these gaps by inviting studies related to climate change and security from various parts of the world and accepting a wide scope of the notion of security.
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