COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, will bring countries together to find solutions to the unfolding planetary crisis at a crucial time. Scientific evidence confirms that the world has entered a new era of risk in which acute environmental crises are being compounded by a darkening security horizon. Climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, and resource scarcity are already impacting every part of the globe. Climate-related displacements are increasingly resulting in complex humanitarian crises. Meanwhile, insecurity is on the rise as demonstrated by a breakdown of arms control regimes and doubling of conflict-related deaths in the last ten years as well as Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
At this joint event, the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) will assess the outcomes of the international climate negotiations and what they mean for peace and security. Margot Wallström, former foreign minister of Sweden and chair of the international board of the Environment of Peace Initiative will provide a brief overview of the interconnections of climate security and feminist foreign policy. She will not only show the broad and complex ways in which environmental degradation and climate change are increasing risks to peace and security, but also how policies to address the environmental crisis can have unintended consequences. If those policies are not designed well, they can aggravate inequalities and injustices as well as create or exacerbate conflict.
In a subsequent panel discussion, Wallström, SIPRI’s Dan Smith, and DGAP’s Kira Vinke will discuss how policy-makers can navigate these intersecting crises, what that means for the international security landscape, and what will be needed to simultaneously promote peace and protect the environment.
Panelists:
Margot Wallström, Chair of the International Board of the Environment of Peace Initiative, former Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs, European Commissioner for the Environment and UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict
Dan Smith, Director, SIPRI
Andrew Harper, Special Advisor on Climate Action, UNHCR
Kira Vinke, Head of the Center for Climate and Foreign Policy, DGAP
Moderator:
Dana Schirwon, DGAP
Register now via events@dgap.org!