Global Security Efforts Must be a Post-Paris Climate Imperative

May 18, 2016 | Nick Mabey and Janani Vivekanada
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It often feels as if the times we live in are unprecedented. Certainly, if we look back over the last 18 months, it is not hyperbole to describe the challenges the world has faced as such - from the Syrian conflict and the subsequent migration crisis, to the Ebola and Zika outbreaks, to continued conflict in Ukraine and the Central African Republic and natural disasters in the Philippines and Canada.

What’s more, climate change is driving the nature and intensity of these crises and as a result, more countries are on the brink. Despite hard work and best intentions, the humanitarian and first responder community has been stretched like a rubber band in its attempts to cope.

That’s why the first World Humanitarian Summit being held in Istanbul on May 23 and 24 is a once in a generation opportunity to reset the conversation and put into practice our newfound understanding that if conflict, disasters and climate are interlinked, so too must be our processes for dealing with them.