Climate Change and Fragility: Improving Early Warning and Climate-Proofing Development and Conflict Interventions (chapter in "Handbook of Fragile States")
Publisher: Elgar Handbooks in Political Science
Author(s): Erin Sikorsky, Francesco Femia, and Brigitte Hugh
Date: 2023
Topics: Climate Change, Conflict Causes, Conflict Prevention, Data and Technologies, Economic Recovery, Governance
Countries: Algeria, Ethiopia, Iraq, Turkey
Climate change knows no political boundaries, yet political boundaries shape much of the response (or lack of response) to that change. In recent years, rapid and unprecedented changes in the climate have made fragile states more fragile, and created new fragilities in places that have traditionally been considered more stable. These dynamics will only intensify as the planet continues to warm. This fragility is due primarily to direct climate pressures on land, food, and water and energy systems, and to states' abilities to govern and manage these systems that are essential to the functioning of nation-states. This chapter first describes the ways in which climate change impacts state fragility, and then presents the case for solutions consistent with the Responsibility to Prepare and Prevent (R2P2) framework: improved early warning capabilities and “climate-proofed” development and conflict interventions.