scholarly journals Climate Change and Security: Filling Remaining Gaps

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Yasuko Kameyama ◽  
Yukari Takamura
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
National Security ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Business Sector ◽  
Traditional Concept ◽  
Security Discourse ◽  
State Actors ◽  
Climate Crisis ◽  
Regional Imbalance

As perception of climate change as a threat to humanity and to ecosystems grows, the rapidly growing literature increasingly refers to the notion of “climate change and security,” for which there is as yet no single agreed definition. Despite the extent of literature already published, there are at least three remaining gaps: (1) Added theoretical value: How does “climate change and security” differ from similar notions such as “climate crisis” and “climate emergency”? What theoretical gains can be made by securing against climate change? (2) Role of non-state actors: The traditional concept of security is tightly bound to the notion of national security, but the climate change and security discourse opens the door to the participation of non-state actors such as the business sector, local government, and citizens. How do they take part in ensuring security? (3) Regional imbalance: Most of the literature on climate change and security published so far comes from Europe and North America. As other regions, such as Asia, are just as affected, more voices should be heard from those regions. This issue aims to address some of these gaps. The nine articles in this issue address the notion of “climate change and security” through empirical work while theoretically contributing to several themes relating to the climate change and security discourse.

scholarly journals Climate and wartalk: Metaphors, imagination, transformation

Elem Sci Anth ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rupinder Mangat ◽  
Simon Dalby
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
National Security ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Human Security ◽  
Sustainable Society ◽  
Fossil Fuel Industry ◽  
War Metaphor ◽  
Fuel Industry ◽  
Change Problem

Fossil fuel divestment activists re-imagine how the war metaphor can be used in climate change action to transform thinking around what will lead to a sustainable society. Through the naming of a clear enemy and an end goal, the overused war metaphor is renewed. By casting the fossil fuel industry in the role of enemy, fossil fuel divestment activists move to a re-imagining of the climate change problem as one that is located in the here and now with known villains who must be challenged and defeated. In this scenario, climate activists move away from the climate and national security framing to a climate and human security way of thinking.

Cyber proxies will become part of global politics

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
National Security ◽  
Global Politics ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Training And Education ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
State Actors

Subject The role of proxy actors on the internet. Significance States have long been the central providers of national security. Yet they are becoming just one of a number of actors that provide security in the cyber domain. A wide range of non-state actors, often acting as proxies, provide a variety of functions that include the provision of security and intelligence; assistance in orchestrating offensive activity; and in-depth training and education. Impacts Proxy actors have their own agenda, making them potentially unreliable government partners in certain instances. Customers across the globe will increasingly scrutinise firms based on their interactions with government actors. Where risk exists in working with proxies, states will look to develop their own capability.

scholarly journals Biodiversity governance under the Arctic Council: The role of science, business and NGOs

Polar Record ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Prip
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Work ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Business Sector ◽  
Policy Advocacy ◽  
Arctic Council ◽  
International Context ◽  
State Actors ◽  
Political Commitments ◽  
Biodiversity Governance

Abstract Since its inception, the Arctic Council (AC) has focused on biodiversity, under its working group on the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna. By adopting a holistic, cross-sectoral approach to biodiversity governance, the AC has acknowledged that biodiversity is not only a matter for the Council and its governments: also non-state actors must be involved. This article analyses whether and how three essential non-state actors – science, business and NGOs – influence AC processes on Arctic biodiversity, comparing the roles of these actors on biodiversity governance in the wider international context. AC work on biodiversity has remained largely scientific, with fewer political commitments for states and the Council as such: science has had a significant influence, whereas there has been limited space for the involvement of the business sector. NGOs have served mainly as contributors and partners in scientific work, increasingly also assuming policy advocacy roles. This article notes the need for closer political cooperation on biodiversity in the AC, with firmer commitments for states and the AC, inspired by work in other AC focal areas.

scholarly journals Kierkegaard in the Anthropocene: Hope, Philosophy, and the Climate Crisis

Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 279
Author(s):  
Ruby Guyatt
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Religious Faith ◽  
Therapeutic Practice ◽  
Christian Philosophy ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Climate Crisis ◽  
Positive Climate ◽  
Affective Dimensions

What is the role of hope in the climate crisis? What type of hope does this crisis demand? How can we sustain hope, in order to resist falling into fatalistic despair or paralyzing fear, whilst always guarding against hope giving way to happy complacency? This essay considers these urgent questions through a novel encounter between the Christian philosophy of Søren Kierkegaard, and recent eco-critical and empirical research on the affectivity of climate change mobilization. I begin by outlining the scope and aims of this essay (1st section), before introducing some affective dimensions of the climate crisis (2nd section), particularly the place of hope. Next, I examine Kierkegaard’s account of hope, and explore the extent to which it corresponds to the type of hope needed in the climate crisis (3rd section). Here, I show that Kierkegaardian hope is a therapeutic practice which subverts the eco-anxiety and sense of helplessness that can otherwise prevent individuals from engaging in positive climate action. Finally, I compare Kierkegaard’s theologically grounded hope with the hope held by climate change activists without religious faith (4th section). Participating in collective climate action anchors the individual’s hopes in a larger, collective hope, which I suggest is sustainable in ways that are partially analogous to the therapeutic functions of Kierkegaard’s Christian hope.

scholarly journals Non-state Actors in the International Climate Change Regulatory Framework

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-104
Author(s):  
Sina Bergmann
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Governance Model ◽  
Nationally Determined Contributions ◽  
International Climate ◽  
State Actors ◽  
Law Making ◽  
International Climate Change

Global climate governance is multilateral and involves both state and non-state actors. This study sets to identify the ways in which non-state actors can access and participate in the international climate change regime under the UNFCCC and the 2015 Paris Agreement and to evaluate how they can influence law-making processes and outcomes under the agreements. The study further provides recommendations on how the involvement of non-state actors can be improved under the agreements. The study emphasizes that under the UNFCCC, non-state actors have an important role in acting as intermediaries under the orchestration governance model and in participating to the Conference of Parties and under the Paris Agreement, by exerting influence on state’s nationally determined contributions. The study suggests that the role of non-state actors in formulating nationally determined contributions and in participating to the Conference of Parties should be further formalised and that the NAZCA portal should be improved.

scholarly journals Cities Towards Global Climate Governance: How the Practices of City Diplomacy Foster Hybrid Multilateralism

2021 ◽  
pp. 365-377
Author(s):  
Nikola Strachová
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Climate Agreements ◽  
Global Issues ◽  
International Climate Agreements ◽  
International Climate ◽  
Climate Crisis ◽  
Global Values

One of the effects of globalization is the increasing number of transnational ties that central governments not only ceased to control but also ceased to participate in; therefore, in recent decades, cities have been increasingly motivated to respond to international issues and initiate various contacts with foreign economic, cultural, and political centres. This article examines practices of city diplomacy in light of the current climate crisis. Albeit cities could be in conflict with their central government, they are executing the global climate agenda. Nonetheless, how do we frame cities’ autonomous activities in the global governance agenda? The article seeks to determine whether the framework of hybrid multilateralism is the niche for cities to assume the role of the central government in defending common global values such as preservation of the environment when the state fails to do so. Based on a dataset consisting of various subnational initiatives responding to climate change, we suggest a remarkable growth in the pledges to the international climate agreements’ commitments involving many subnational actors. Through these pledges, cities enter the international negotiations with various partners under hybrid policy architecture. Cities hold an enormous potential to influence the global conversation on climate change agenda. Furthermore, we conclude that cities are taking on the states’ role in global issues when they identify the inadequacy of the central governments’ action. Their conflict position forces them to carry out autonomous activities and fosters the new phenomenon of hybrid multilateralism.

scholarly journals Unveiling unseen climate practices on Instagram

Novos Olhares ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-129
Author(s):  
Niina Uusitalo
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Empirical Study ◽  
Human Agency ◽  
Visual Images ◽  
The Media ◽  
Climate Crisis

Climate change is often portrayed through stereotypical, extreme or controversial messages, with the role of human agency attached to consumption and demonstrations. Such depictions can be demotivating and cause issue fatigue. There is a need to broaden and elaborate our understanding of human connections to climate change. The aim of this paper is to identify a wide array of climate practices expressed by social media users. An empirical study of 42 Finnish ecological Instagram accounts was conducted. The textual and visual contents of climate-related posts were qualitatively analyzed to identify climate practices and the role visual images play in these representations. Six types of climate practices were identified in the data: detaching, reforming, transilluminating, persevering, caring and consolidating. The visualization of climate practices should be expanded in the media to broaden the understanding of potential human agency in the climate crisis.

Tourism, climate change and the geopolitics of arctic development: the critical case of Greenland

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Critical Examination ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Development Trajectory ◽  
Tourism Climate ◽  
Climate Crisis

Abstract This book focuses on the context, nature and role of tourism in Greenland, and is set within an overlapping geopolitical frame of: (a)the heightening climate crisis; (b)Greenland's trajectory towards political independence from Denmark; (c)its concept of economic 'self-sustainability' in supporting this trajectory; and (d)growing international interest in, and competition for, Greenland's natural resources and infrastructure projects. The last in its turn partly reflects improving land and sea accessibility afforded by climate change, which paradoxically both challenges and encourages Greenland's concepts of sustainable development, within which tourism plays an ambivalent role: while elements of global and local tourism have been seeking to create a more responsible sector, within Greenland's development trajectory tourism appears to be supporting a sustainability ideology that ignores, or at best camouflages, the climate crisis. The central themes of this book therefore employ the role of tourism and travel as a lens through which to examine climatic, societal, economic and geopolitical change in the Arctic as specifically articulated in the experience of Greenland. The 'critical' situations in which Greenland finds itself reflect external perceptions of the global climate crisis and geostrategic maneuvering over Arctic resources, and domestic considerations of socio-economic development and increased sovereignty. The volume thereby highlights the close and often critical interrelationships between the local, regional and global. A recurring observation is the paradox, one of several of a region hitherto regarded as peripheral but which is becoming increasingly central to global concerns, with tourism-related dynamics reflecting such centrality. In this way, this book aims to: (1) emphasise the critical role of change in the Arctic in general and in Greenland in particular; (2) highlight critical interrelationships between tourism, climate change and the geopolitics of Arctic development, where 'geopolitics' is interpreted as applying at a number of scales from the interpersonal and quotidian to the global geostrategic; and (3) provide a critical examination of Greenland's post-colonial tourism development path, as the territory becomes the focus of increasing global interest. This book is organised into three parts with a total of 13 chapters.

National Security, Property Rights, and Development in Nigeria: How Should the Leviathan Resolve Herder-Farmer Conflict?

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Chidebe Matthew Nwankwo
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
National Security ◽  
Ethnic Cleansing ◽  
Land Grab ◽  
Nomadic Pastoralists ◽  
Small Measure ◽  
Agrarian Communities ◽  
The Right ◽  
Security Property

Abstract The spate of violent clashes between nomadic pastoralists and agrarian communities in Nigeria raises a number of legal and policy questions that had been long overlooked. Issues arising from the phenomenon range from questions over constitutionally guaranteed rights such as the right to own property, to questions over the inadequacies of Nigeria’s security apparatus as well as calls for land use reforms. Additionally, due to the groups affected and the scale of casualties, the topic has become a political molten magma. The constant conflicts between nomadic pastoralists who are majorly from the Fulani ethnic group, and agrarian communities from other parts of the country have reached unprecedented levels leading to accusations of coordinated attempts at land grab, ethnic cleansing, jihad and insurgency, threatening the country’s security and stability in the process. Fiscally, the destruction of lives and property and the state of insecurity emanating from the clashes stood at $16 billion in potential revenue as at 2018. In no small measure have these clashes been precipitated by climate change and the consequent drought in the Sahara region. This paper analyses the role of the Nigerian state in balancing the interests of affected groups in the clashes and promoting development. At its core, it seeks to identify legal and policy gaps that require filling to put a definite end to the lingering crisis.

scholarly journals The European Media Portrayal of Climate Change: Implications for the Social Mobilization towards Climate Action

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (20) ◽  
pp. 8300
Author(s):  
Alexandre O. Tavares ◽  
Neide P. Areia ◽  
Sinead Mellett ◽  
Julia James ◽  
Diego S. Intrigliolo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Media Communication ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
The Social ◽  
Political Narratives ◽  
Media Portrayal ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
The Media ◽  
Climate Crisis

Beyond other social actors, such as policymakers and scholars, common citizens are also expected to actively engage with climate change, by adopting sustainable actions and supporting environmental policies. However, and despite the actual growing of environment-related social movements, a kind of inertia still prevails in the social climate of our society. The media should play a key role in promoting, among common individuals, the adoption of new and more sustainable practices. However, it is argued that the media seems to be failing to effectively address the climate crisis. As such, this study aims to identify the main weaknesses of climate change media communication to further discuss possible opportunities of communication improvements. For that, 1609 news articles published between 2017 and 2018 in five European countries were analyzed in-depth, through quantitative content analysis. The news’ general characteristics, specifically reported themes, and the specificities of actors’ discourses were taken into account for the analysis. It was verified that the European media tends to report climate change by using distant (e.g., future-focused) and outcome (e.g., threatening messages) framings, based on non-resilient, scientific, and political narratives, whilst overlooking the role of civil society on adapting to climate change. These results demonstrate that instead of promoting society’s climate action, the media may be contributing to a widespread social apathy about the climate and the disengagement of individuals regarding environment-related matters. Evidence-based forms of improving the media’s communication on climate change will be further discussed.

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