The Gaza Strip has long been uniquely vulnerable to the climate crisis, with rapid temperature increase and decreasing rainfall plaguing this whole region. Even prior to the current conflict, NGOs in the region and the UN have warned that climate change would be devastating, particularly for food and water security in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
Climate negotiators’ pledges to address climate change at the U.N. conference in Dubai by committing to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 may be less solid than they appear. Scientists argue that these promises lack clear definitions and are filled with loopholes.
As intensive coverage of the war in Gaza has waned, the severe water crisis there has only worsened. Constant bombardment is impacting water production and distribution networks, forcing children and families are using water from unsafe sources.
As climate-related disasters swell in scale and intensity, the countries and communities impacted by fragility or conflict are among the most vulnerable. The explicit focus on relief, recovery, and peace at COP28 offered the international community a clear acknowledgement that climate and conflict increasingly overlap.
In the closing moments of COP28, the almost 200 countries in attendance settled on a deal for a roadmap that would include a reference to “phasing out fossil fuels.” This language was a step toward highlighting the inevitability of this transition in order to address climate change.
In today’s episode of New Security Broadcast, ECSP Director Lauren Risi hosts three contributing authors of the international chapter of the recently released fifth National Climate Assessment. Dr. Roger Pulwarty is a Senior Scientist with the Physical Sciences Laboratory at NOAA; Dr. Andrea Cameron is a permanent military professor teaching policy analysis at the US Naval War College; and Dr. Geoff Dabelko is a Professor and Associate Dean with the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs at Ohio University and a senior advisor to ECSP. In the conversation, the authors discuss the implications of climate change for national and international security, and they delve into the international chapter and its significance for policymakers in the US and abroad.
In today’s episode of New Security Broadcast, ECSP’s Angus Soderberg breaks down a recent Wilson Center event against the backdrop of the 10th annual Conference of State Parties (COSP) to the UN Convention on Corruption, which is under way in Atlanta this week. On September 19, ECSP and the Wilson Center’s Global Europe Program, in partnership with the U.S. Department of State, the Embassy of the Principality of Liechtenstein, and the Basel Institute on Governance, hosted Combating Green Corruption: Fighting Financial Crime as a Driver of Environmental Degradation. The speakers discuss how corruption fuels wildlife trafficking and other environmental crimes, which finance illicit activities, hamper development, and erode efforts to combat biodiversity loss and climate change across the globe.
October 2023 was the world’s warmest month in history, a fact which underscores the escalation of the climate crisis. It also supports official reports on adaptation and emission gaps which provide pessimistic outlooks for the future of peace in conflict-affected areas.