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From Floods To Disaster: A Conflict- And Climate-Sensitive Recovery Pathway For Libya
›More than 11,300 people are confirmed to have died in the floods that struck eastern Libya on September 11, 2023, far surpassing many estimates of the death toll in the country’s 2011 civil war. Thousands are still missing. Flooding has washed away approximately 25% of the city of Derna, and damage to roads and bridges is curtailing emergency service access. A rapid attribution study estimated that the extreme rain was at least a “1-in-300 year event.” This is far beyond previously recorded incidents, yet such incidents are now up to 50 times more likely—and up to 50% more intense—when compared to a 1.2°C cooler climate.
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ECSP Weekly Watch | October 2 – 6
›A window into what we are reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program
A Warming World is Accelerating the Spread of Dengue
Dengue is now endemic in most Latin American countries. But scientists warn that a warming climate is increasing the pace of breeding and transmission of dengue-carrying mosquitoes, and bring them into new countries.
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New Journal | Q&A with Environment and Security’s Editorial Team
›Environment and Security is a new journal published by the Environmental Peacebuilding Association and SAGE Publishing. The journal represents the evolution of a field of study that began in earnest in the 1990s and has emerged today—in an era increasingly defined by climate change—as an issue area of paramount importance. ECSP spoke with the journal’s editorial team about what sparked its launch and what readers can expect.
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Africa’s First Climate Summit: From Victim to Leader?
›The UN Environment Programme has described Africa as the most vulnerable region in the world to climate change. Despite only being responsible for 3% of global emissions, the continent has been battered by extreme weather events, including droughts, cyclones, wildfires, and sandstorms. One in three people across Africa faces water scarcity. The continent’s agricultural sector, which represents a significant share of African countries’ GDP and employment, is highly exposed to climate change.
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Disasters in Armed Conflict Zones: Silver Linings or Total Devastation?
›When catastrophic floods struck civil war-ridden Libya in the late summer of 2023, the catastrophe caused over 10,000 deaths and wreaked immense destruction throughout the nation’s northeastern regions. But because none of the warring factions were in full control of the country and international responders were concerned about being caught in the crossfire, relief efforts were delayed and limited. This confluence of factors amplified human suffering, particularly in Libya’s remote and worst-affected areas.
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Q&A: Peter Schwartzstein on Conflict & Climate in Libya
›In the wake of Storm Daniel, which hit Libya in September 2023, ECSP spoke with Wilson Center Global Fellow Peter Schwartzstein about the storm’s tragic fallout and its connection to conflict. As an environmental journalist and consultant, Schwartzstein has written extensively about the climate-conflict nexus and other environmental and geopolitical issues, primarily in the Middle East, North and East Africa.
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ECSP Weekly Watch | September 18 – 22
›A window into what we are reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program
Converging Crises: Pakistan Flood Victims Face Rising Hunger
According to FAO, Pakistan ranks among the top-ten world producers of wheat, cotton, sugarcane, and mango—and it is the 10th largest producer of rice. But Pakistan is also atop another world ranking: vulnerability to the impacts of global warming.
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Shifting the Climate Security Narrative: How the Department of Defense Can Lead
›In 2021, US Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III referred to climate change as an “existential threat”—a term traditionally reserved for nuclear weapons. Yet two years and several strategic plans later, tangible progress to mitigate and prepare for this threat remains elusive, especially on the international scale where the greatest impacts could be realized.
Showing posts from category security.