The future of global security will depend in large part on the fate of today’s 1.2 billion young people. Do youth between the ages of 15 and 24—a critical phase of life—possess  the necessary social, physical, intellectual, and financial building blocks to underpin productive, healthy adulthoods? Or do they lack this solid base, putting them at risk of personal and social instability?

Following a series of recent devastating extreme weather events – mudslides in Sierra Leone, flooding in south Asia, and severe storms hitting the Philippines and the Gulf of Mexico, many have called attention to the role of climate change in these disasters. The string of Atlantic hurricanes that has devastated the Caribbean has prompted fresh calls to make nations and communities more resilient to the effects of climate change, and especially to address “loss and damage” in island nations.

Every day, millions of people flip switches to turn on the lights or warm up the house, while millions of others light candles or wood-fired stoves. While most people know that the source of the energy we use varies according to where we live, many don’t realize that energy decisions are not gender neutral. Every country’s policy decisions about energy production and use have significant implications for women’s empowerment and the level of equality (or inequality) between women and men.

“A monster”… “wreaking havoc”… “ripped through” the Caribbean and part of Florida: I heard these words as Hurricane Irma, the strongest Category 5 Atlantic hurricane on record, decimated the entire island of Barbuda and destroyed the four “most solid” buildings on St. Martin. And as I write this from the relative safety of Barbados, Hurricane Maria is on a similar path, leaving similar destruction in its wake. With winds of more than 160 miles per hour, Maria was the strongest storm to make landfall in Dominica. In a matter of hours, it devastated the country, regained its strength, and continued its onslaught on Puerto Rico and beyond.

Today, world leaders gathered in New York for the United Nations General Assembly will celebrate the International Day of Peace, observed annually since 1981. This year’s Peace Day is centered on the theme of togetherness, and the importance of securing safety and dignity for all people – including youth. By all accounts, young people are critical to the success of peacebuilding efforts, and the dignitaries at the United Nations would do well to consider how empowered youth can make meaningful contributions to the fields of governance and development. Already, young people around the world are being called upon to protect natural resources, facilitate transboundary dialogue, and resist injustice. And as new threats to human security – including climate change and environmental degradation – emerge, harnessing the full potential of youth will prove essential to initiating a new chapter of sustainable peace.

It is encouraging to see that the United Nations Security Council is beginning to acknowledge the transboundary dimensions of fragility and conflict, as demonstrated by its newly launched Report of the Secretary-General on the situation in the Lake Chad Basin region. The report, which was presented in the Security Council on 13 September 2017, emphasizes the need for regional responses and the enhanced cooperation of different UN and humanitarian agencies as important steps to addressing the unfolding humanitarian crisis. However, while regional responses to address the regional security challenge are desirable, the report would have been stronger if it had highlighted the underlying environmental contributions of the region’s fragility. 

The intersection of reproductive health and climate change is an understudied nexus in academic literature. In her Nature article, “Considering Climate in Studies of Fertility and Reproductive Health in Poor Countries,” Kathryn Grace looks at how studies of contemporary fertility transitions are better served when they include the impacts of climate change.

“This is not an island issue, this is not a Caribbean issue, this is an issue that is [also] critical for us,” says Roger-Mark De Souza, the Wilson Center’s director of population, environmental security, and resilience in a recent video interview. “For us in the United States we have to continue to recognize that we ourselves are also vulnerable.” De Souza remains hopeful about the possibility of rebuilding and rebounding in the face of devastation, but also presses the importance of generating response mechanisms which address environmental hazards before they manifest into disasters. “That means planning, it means investing in community mobilization mechanisms, it means thinking about ways we provide humanitarian assistance.”