Climate Security and Climate Diplomacy

Introduction

Climate change is increasingly recognized as a factor that can intensify existing social, economic, political, and security pressures. Drought, extreme heat, floods, changing agricultural conditions, and declining ecosystem services can affect livelihoods, public health, migration, and competition over resources. These pressures may contribute to instability when they interact with poverty, weak institutions, exclusion, or armed conflict.

Climate change does not automatically cause war. Its security implications depend on the circumstances in which climate hazards occur and the ability of societies and institutions to manage them. Effective responses therefore require environmental policy, development planning, conflict prevention, diplomacy, and international cooperation.

Climate security examines the relationship between climate-related risks and human, national, regional, and international security. Climate diplomacy refers to diplomatic engagement aimed at negotiating climate agreements, coordinating action, mobilizing support, and addressing disagreements over climate responsibilities and policies.

The United Nations Climate Security Mechanism brings together expertise from the UN’s political and peacebuilding, development, environmental, and peace operations bodies to strengthen analysis and responses to climate-related peace and security risks. <Cite refs={[“turn680886search3″,”turn680886search6”]}/>

Core Concepts

Climate security: The study and management of security risks arising from climate change and its interaction with political, economic, environmental, and social conditions.

Climate, peace and security (CPS): An analytical and policy framework examining how climate change interacts with conflict, peacebuilding, stability, and political processes.

Climate-related security risk: The possibility that climate hazards and their social or economic consequences may contribute to insecurity or undermine peace.

Climate diplomacy: Diplomatic negotiation and engagement concerning climate action, international commitments, climate finance, technology, and cooperation.

Environmental diplomacy: Diplomatic engagement concerning environmental protection, resource management, biodiversity, pollution, and related transboundary issues.

Climate fragility: A condition in which exposure to climate risks combines with institutional weakness, conflict, poverty, or limited adaptive capacity to increase insecurity.

Climate resilience: The ability of societies, institutions, infrastructure, and ecosystems to withstand climate-related shocks, adapt, and recover.

Climate-sensitive conflict analysis: An assessment of how climate hazards may interact with existing political tensions, economic pressures, resource disputes, or grievances.

Peace-positive climate action: Climate policies designed to reduce environmental risks while supporting cooperation, inclusion, and peacebuilding.

Pathways Linking Climate Change and Security

Livelihood insecurity: Climate-related damage to agriculture, fisheries, livestock, or other income sources may deepen poverty and increase pressure on already vulnerable communities.

Resource competition: Reduced availability of land, water, forests, or grazing areas may intensify competition where access arrangements are unequal or institutions are weak.

Food price instability: Climate shocks can reduce production, disrupt supply chains, and increase food prices, placing pressure on household incomes and political stability.

Water stress: Changes in rainfall, drought, glacier melt, and water demand can create tensions among users or countries sharing a river basin or aquifer.

Displacement and migration: Climate-related hazards may force people to move temporarily or permanently. Movement can increase pressure on receiving areas when housing, jobs, services, and local institutions are already stretched.

Infrastructure disruption: Floods, storms, heat, and other hazards can damage electricity networks, roads, ports, communications, and essential public services.

Public health pressures: Heat stress, disease patterns, malnutrition, and damaged health infrastructure can weaken community resilience and increase humanitarian needs.

Political grievances: When climate impacts are experienced as unfairly distributed, or public responses favour particular groups, existing distrust and exclusion may deepen.

These pathways are not deterministic. Cooperation, effective public services, inclusive resource governance, and early investment in resilience can reduce the likelihood that climate pressures contribute to conflict. <Cite refs={[“turn680886search9″,”turn680886search0”]}/>

Climate Risks and Different Levels of Security

Human security: The protection of people’s lives, health, livelihoods, dignity, and access to essential resources.

National security: The protection of a state’s population, territory, institutions, and vital interests against threats, including climate-related risks to infrastructure and essential supplies.

Regional security: Security concerns shared by neighbouring states, such as cross-border displacement, drought, water scarcity, and disaster response.

International security: Risks that affect the wider international system through economic disruption, humanitarian emergencies, strategic competition, or cross-border instability.

Critical infrastructure security: The protection and resilience of essential systems such as electricity, telecommunications, transport, water, and healthcare.

Humanitarian security: The safety, protection, and essential needs of people affected by disasters, displacement, conflict, or other emergencies.

Climate-related disaster risk: The potential for climate hazards to cause harm, shaped by exposure, vulnerability, and the capacity to prepare and respond.

Climate Diplomacy and International Negotiations

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC): The international treaty that provides the main framework for multilateral climate negotiations.

Conference of the Parties (COP): The formal meeting of parties to a treaty. In climate diplomacy, COP commonly refers to the annual conference under the UNFCCC.

Paris Agreement: The 2015 agreement under the UNFCCC that seeks to hold global warming well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C.

Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC): A country’s climate action plan under the Paris Agreement, setting out its national efforts and targets.

Climate ambition: The level of commitment and action undertaken to reduce emissions, strengthen adaptation, and support climate-related objectives.

Climate negotiation: The process through which governments discuss, bargain over, and adopt international climate commitments and decisions.

Consensus-based decision-making: A process seeking agreement among participating parties rather than relying solely on a simple majority vote. Consensus procedures can affect the pace and scope of climate negotiations.

Climate coalition: A group of countries or stakeholders coordinating positions or advocating shared objectives in climate negotiations.

Climate leadership: The role of a country, institution, or other actor in promoting ambitious action, building coalitions, or providing resources and expertise.

Climate trust deficit: A lack of confidence among negotiating parties, often concerning the delivery of commitments, finance, technology, or equitable burden-sharing.

Equity, Responsibility and Climate Diplomacy

Common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR-RC): A principle recognizing that all countries share responsibility for addressing global environmental problems, while accounting for differences in historical contributions and capacities.

Historical emissions: Greenhouse gas emissions accumulated over an earlier period. The choice of starting date and the gases included can affect comparisons.

Climate vulnerability: The susceptibility of a country or community to climate impacts, influenced by exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity.

Climate justice: An approach to climate policy that considers fairness in responsibility, impacts, participation, and access to support.

Loss and damage: Harm associated with climate impacts that cannot be fully avoided through mitigation and adaptation, including economic and non-economic losses.

Climate finance diplomacy: Negotiations over the scale, sources, accessibility, distribution, and accountability of climate-related funding.

Technology cooperation: International collaboration to develop, share, deploy, and adapt climate-related technologies and expertise.

Adaptation diplomacy: Negotiation and cooperation concerning resilience, adaptation planning, capacity-building, and support for vulnerable countries.

Climate Security Policy Tools

Climate risk assessment: A structured analysis of climate hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and possible consequences.

Early warning system: A mechanism that identifies emerging hazards, communicates risks, and enables timely protective action.

Climate-informed peacebuilding: Peacebuilding that considers climate hazards and environmental pressures when designing programmes and managing disputes.

Conflict-sensitive adaptation: Adaptation planning that considers local power relationships, inequalities, land rights, and possible unintended effects on conflict.

Environmental peacebuilding: The use of environmental cooperation and natural-resource management to support dialogue, confidence-building, and peaceful relations.

Integrated risk assessment: An approach that examines climate risks alongside political, economic, social, environmental, and security factors.

Climate security adviser: A specialist who supports analysis and policy coordination on climate-related peace and security risks.

Disaster risk reduction: Measures intended to prevent new disaster risks, reduce existing risks, and strengthen resilience.

Challenges in Climate Diplomacy

Free-rider problem: The risk that a country benefits from others’ climate efforts while contributing less than its share to collective action.

Collective-action problem: A situation in which achieving a shared objective requires coordinated action, but individual actors may have incentives to delay or under-contribute.

Distributional conflict: Disagreement over who should bear the costs of climate action and who should receive its benefits.

Climate protectionism: Trade or industrial measures justified partly by climate objectives that may also create disputes over market access, competitiveness, or unequal treatment.

Climate misinformation: False or misleading claims about climate science, impacts, or policies that can obstruct informed public debate and decision-making.

Implementation gap: The difference between climate commitments and the action or outcomes delivered.

Adaptation gap: The difference between the level of adaptation needed and the measures actually implemented.

Trust-building: Measures that improve confidence among negotiating parties, such as transparent reporting, predictable support, consultation, and delivery of commitments.

Key Distinctions

Key Terms at a Glance

• Climate-informed security policy: Security planning that incorporates climate risks.
• Climate-sensitive development: Development planning that accounts for climate impacts.
• Transboundary risk: A risk that crosses national borders or affects multiple countries.
• Risk multiplier: A factor that intensifies existing risks rather than acting as an independent or inevitable cause of conflict.
• Climate cooperation: Joint action on emissions, adaptation, finance, technology, or climate-related risks.
• Climate early warning: Identification and communication of emerging climate-related threats.
• Adaptation finance: Funding that supports adjustment to climate impacts.
• Mitigation finance: Funding that supports emission reductions or greenhouse gas removals.
• Climate pledge: A stated commitment or intended action on climate policy.
• Climate accountability: Processes for reporting, reviewing, and assessing commitments and performance.

Related Glossaries

• 9.2 Human Security and Non-Traditional Security
• 10.5 Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution
• 10.6 Peacekeeping, Peacemaking and Peacebuilding
• 17.4 Sustainable Development and SDGs
• 17.7 Food, Health and Human Security
• 18.1 Climate Change and Global Warming
• 18.3 Climate Finance and Climate Justice
• 18.4 Environmental Security and Resource Conflicts
• 18.5 Water Security and Transboundary Waters

Conclusion

Climate security and climate diplomacy connect environmental change with international peace, cooperation, and political decision-making. Climate change can intensify existing vulnerabilities, but conflict is neither inevitable nor determined by climate alone. Effective policy combines climate science, inclusive development, risk assessment, equitable resource governance, diplomacy, and peacebuilding. International cooperation is essential because the causes, impacts, and solutions of climate change extend beyond national borders.