Introduction: Climate Change and Conflict in the Pacific (chapter in "Climate Change and Conflict in the Pacific")
Publisher: Routledge
Author(s): Ria Shibata and Seforosa Carroll
Date: 2023
Topics: Climate Change, Conflict Causes, Disasters, Governance, Land, Renewable Resources
Countries: Solomon Islands
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book uses a critical studies framework to map out the disparate approaches and perspectives in the current discourse on the climate change–security nexus. It presents the contested academic debate on whether climate change is a source of social instability and conflict. The book lays the overall landscape by calling attention to the various vulnerabilities that Pacific Island countries are facing, such as extreme exposure of coastal regions, frequency of extreme weather events, reduced natural resources and their constrained options for adaptation. It explores the importance of land to the Pacific Island people, and reinforces Boege’s points about the strong linkages between climate change, land, migration and potential conflict. The book examines the climate change and conflict nexus through three elements of the Solomon Islands peace and conflict context—in relation to environmental degradation exacerbating conflict, patterns of internal migration and the risks.