Examining the potential impacts of climate change on international security: EU-Africa partnership on climate change.

Mahamat K Dodo

doi:10.1186/2193-1801-3-194

Abstract

Climate Change like many global problems nowadays is recognized as a threat to the international security and cooperation. In theoretical terms, it is being securitized and included in the traditional security studies. Climate change and its accompanying environmental degradation are perceived to be a threat that can have incalculable consequences on the international community. The consequences are said to have more effects in small island developing nations and Africa where many States are fragile and overwhelmed with mounting challenges. In recent years, the security implications of the climate change are being addressed from national, regional and multilateral level. Against this backdrop, this paper intends to contribute to the debate on climate change and international security and present a broader perspective on the discussion. The paper will draw from the EU-Africa partnership on climate change and is structured as follows: the first part introduces the background of the international climate change policy and its securitization, the second part covers the EU-Africa relations and EU-Africa partnership on climate change, and the third part discusses the Congo Basin Forest Partnership as a concrete example of EU-Africa Partnership on Climate Change. Lastly, the paper concludes by drawing some conclusions and offers some policy perspectives and recommendations.JEL classificationQ54; 055; 052; 01;

Highlights

Global climate change challenges have been at the forefront of the multilateral agenda in the last quarter of a century
We consider that once those recommendations that we have proposed above are taken into account by the African and the European policymakers alike, the Africa-European Union (EU) Partnership on Climate Change will be a robust policy that both sides can use to combat the adverse effects of the climate change in Africa and progressively help her transition to low carbon economy
The likelihood that climate change risks can affect the international security is hotly debated in recent years by the international community

Summary

Introduction

Global climate change challenges have been at the forefront of the multilateral agenda in the last quarter of a century. Beginning with the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (Montreal Protocol) of 1987, and the Rio Conventions (UN Convention on Biological Diversity, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and UN Convention to Combat Desertification) of 1992, climate change issues have become policy area concerns for many governments across the globe This has been true for larger developing countries, leastdeveloped countries, and industrialized developed ones as well. The United Nations Environment Programme and the World Meteorological Organization established in 1988 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) They entrusted it with a mandate to provide the international community with technical and up to date scientific information on climate change and its effects on the world at large. The various reports provided by the IPCC have served as guiding frameworks through which governments around the world adopt and respond to the issues of climate change that their respective societies face

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