The United Nations Security Council, the Boe Declaration, and Upolu Luma Vaai’s Umbilical Cord – and Why They Matter for Peacebuilding in the Era of Man-Made Climate Change
Publisher: Toda Peace Institute
Author(s): Volker Boege
Date: 2020
Topics: Climate Change, Conflict Prevention, Gender, Land, Peace Agreements
Countries: Fiji
The paper commences with a comparison between the two existential threats mankind is confronted with today: nuclear threat and the threat of climate change. In doing so, the case is built for peace research to engage with climate change, and the specifics of this engagement are outlined. This sets the scene for a closer look at how the field of climate change, security, conflict and peace is discussed today in the academic and policy sphere, focusing on the dilemmas of securitisation and the connections between climate change adaptation and peacebuilding. Flowing from the identification of gaps and shortcomings in the debate, an innovative Pacific eco-relational approach is presented, which can address these gaps and shortcomings, and how research might proceed based on this approach is sketched. Finally, some conclusions are drawn, stressing the multi-scalar nature of the challenge, the need to work across the state/non-state divide, the strengths of eco-relationality in dealing with climate change, conflict and peace, the vulnerability/resilience interface, and the linkages between climate justice and peace and, accordingly, climate movements and peace movements.