Confronting Climate Change as an Accelerator of Crisis

Nov 6, 2017 | Kishan Khoday and Oscar Ekdahl
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More frequent and severe droughts, millions at risk of famine, the spread of conflict and mass displacement - these are the challenges of our time and have generated the worst humanitarian crisis since the establishment of the United Nations. While the UN and partners scale up immediate responses, an important focus is to ensure contribution to and complementarity with longer-term solutions that address the root causes of fragility. Climate change has arisen as a key driver of action in this regard. Around the world, climate change is affecting food security, generating social vulnerability and disrupting peace and security. The 2017 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report notes how the world is witnessing the first rise in global hunger in a decade and points to conflict and climate change as the two key drivers. This is particularly relevant for the Arab region, where many of the countries affected by conflict are also among the region’s top climate risk hotspots. The Arab region is home to rising levels of conflict and the world’s largest population of refugees and displaced people. Simultaneously, it is now the planet’s most water scarce and food import-dependent region, and the only region where malnutrition rates have been rising. By 2030, it is expected that grain imports will increase further - by more than 20 percent in some countries in the region.