2008/09/22
CLIMATE CHANGE AS A SECURITY THREAT - STRATEGIES FOR POLICY-MAKERS, SCIENCE AND BUSINESS
On November 6 to 7, 2008 the international conference of the German Federal Foreign Office "Climate Change as a Security Threat - Strategies for Policy-Makers, Science and Business" will take place in Freiburg in Breisgau, Germany.
The event will focus on potential conflict constellations caused by climate change and the impacts these conflicts may have on peace and security. Moreover the conference will bring these issues to the attention of a broader public and further support opportunities for dialogue.
The Federal Foreign Minister Dr Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Minister of State Dr h.c. Gernot Erler and Lord Mayor of the City of Freiburg Dr Dieter Salomon will open the international conference on November 6 in the Freiburg Concert Hall. Highly regarded speakers will enrich the programme, among them Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Director General of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Dr Rajendra K. Pachauri.
The conference programme will be complemented by two special events: a Benefit Concert of the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and an Exhibition entitled "Environment, Conflict and Cooperation".
For more information, please visit the conference website at http://www.freiburg-konferenz.de/home_en.htm
World Watch; Sep/Oct2008, Vol. 21 Issue 5, p40-45,
Authors:
Elizabeth Leahy
Sean Peoples
Abstract
The article focuses on the link between population growth and security globally. It states that the growing population is contributing to risk associated to youth, migration and environmental stress. According to General Michael Hayden of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, population is one of the top three destabilizing trends for security and demography. It emphasizes that majority of the global population lives in countries whose populations will continue to grow for the long term. It denotes that 42% of the world's people live in nations where the average family size is below the number needed to maintain a stable population level.
Risks from growth, youth, migration, and environmental stress
In April 2008, General Michael Hayden, director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, cited population growth as one of three top destabilizing trends facing the world (the other two were the rise of Asia and the changing relationship between Europe and the United States). While no reasonable expert would argue that there is a simple causal relationship between demography and security — e.g., that a total fertility rate of five children per woman indicates that civil war will break out 20 years from now, or that a country cannot remain stable unless its age distribution resembles a bell curve — demographic trends can clearly interact with poverty, poor governance, competition for natural resources, and environmental degradation to contribute to conflict. As examples, we need look no further than Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Haiti, or Egypt — places where in recent years tensions that led to conflict may have been heightened by demographic pressures.
Other Sections:
Demographic Diversity
Migration
Population Profiles
...
Rapid population growth in countries with limited state t capacity may compromise natural resource management, thereby threatening livelihoods and sparking violent conflict. When resources are threatened by environmental hazards (e.g., droughts, tsunamis, hurricanes), conflict can erupt between people fighting to preserve their livelihoods. One example of the contribution of population growth and environmental disasters to conflict is the simmering-dispute between India and Bangladesh, where population densities have skyrocketed and devastating floods regularly engulf portions of each country. Those affected in Bangladesh flee to India, engendering conflict between new and existing residents and sometimes leading to organized violence against the newcomers. This situation may continue to worsen: climate experts predict that 16 percent of Bangladesh's low-lying territory could be inundated as seas rise, increasing the risk of health problems such as dengue fever and water-borne pathogens. Another example is Sudan, where desertification and regional climate change, coupled with population displacement, have rendered the country and surrounding region vulnerable to natural disasters and drought. In both cases, cooperative resource management and state capacity-building measures are key to addressing these problems.
Implications of Population-Aging
This report seeks to build the 'business case' for sponsors of large-scale, high-impact projects to treat the consent of the host community as a requirement of project development.
Date: May, 2007
Authors: Jon Sohn, Authors: Steven Herz, Jon Sohn, Antonio La Vina. Editor: Jonathan Sohn
http://www.wri.org/publication/development-without-conflict
While much has been written on the legal, normative, and development arguments for ensuring that host communities have the opportunity to consent to a project, there has been relatively little attention paid to how obtaining the free, prior informed consent (FPIC) of host communities is in the pecuniary interest of project sponsors and their financial backers. This report seeks to build the "business case" for sponsors of large-scale, high-impact projects to treat the consent of the host community as a requirement of project development.
The argument is set out in four sections. Section I provides context by briefly reviewing the origins and evolution of the FPIC requirement in international law and development discourse. It argues that while community FPIC first emerged as an international norm applicable to indigenous peoples, it has come to be widely seen as critical to the fair treatment of all communities. Section II then directly addresses the business case for FPIC. It identifies and describes the various types of risks associated with developing projects that lack the support of their host community. Section III focuses on case studies. Through a series of real-world examples, it illustrates some of the ways in which the risks of community opposition can manifest themselves. It also provides a positive case study that demonstrates how early attention to FPIC issues can avoid significant costs during implementation. To the extent possible based on publicly available information, each case study quantifies the financial impacts that community opposition (or its avoidance) has had on the project and its sponsor.