[ONLINE] - Climate Security: Building a Community of Practice

What does climate security actually mean?

Climate security is a hot topic in defense, diplomacy, and development circles these days, from the UN Security Council to capitals around the world. This growing consensus that climate change is a geopolitical risk and instability accelerant is one thing, but it’s another to actually build climate security.

Join New America’s Resource Security Program for a discussion about the state of the climate peace and security community of practice, focusing on decision support tools and best practices.

Follow the conversation online using #climatesecurity and following @PhaseZeroNA.

Speakers:

Eliot Levine
Director of the Peace & Conflict Technical Support Unit, Mercy Corps

Eliot Levine is a climate change and environment expert with 20 years of experience in international development and conservation. He is currently the Director of Mercy Corps Environment Technical Support Unit, leading a team which provides strategic support to Mercy Corps’ global program portfolio as related to climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction, low carbon development, natural resource management and WASH. Prior to Mercy Corps, Eliot spent 8 years working at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) as a Sr. Climate Adaptation Adviser. In this role he worked directly with WWF’s country and field teams to increase their capacity to integrate climate risks into their conservation strategies, while supporting the development of technical tools and approaches such as vulnerability assessments.

Eliot holds an MPA in Environmental Science & Policy from Columbia University. Originally from Pennsylvania, he now lives in Portland, Oregon.

Janani Vivekananda, @JanVivekananda
Head of Programme Climate Diplomacy and Security, adelphi

Janani Vivekananda is the Head of Programme Climate Diplomacy and Security at adelphi. In this role, she focuses on peace and security, vulnerability, adaptation, conflict and risk analyses, conflict and resources, and urban governance. With her background in field research and operations, she aims at promoting participatory, locally owned processes in order to connect ground realities with policy processes and vice versa, thereby fostering the linked goals of peace and sustainable development.

Dr. Florian Krampe, @FlorianKrampe
Senior Researcher and Director of the Climate Change and Risk Programme, SIRPI

Florian Krampe is a Senior Researcher and Director of SIPRI’s Climate Change and Risk Programme, specializing in peace and conflict research, environmental and climate security, and international security. His primary academic interest is the foundations of peace and security, especially the processes of building peace after armed conflict. He is currently focusing on climate security and the post-conflict management of natural resources, with a specific interest in the ecological foundations for a socially, economically and politically resilient peace. Dr Krampe is an Affiliated Researcher at the Research School for International Water Cooperation at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University and Specially Appointed Professor at the Network for Education and Research on Peace and Sustainability at Hiroshima University, Japan.

Catherine Wong, @CatherineWong01
Policy Specialist - Climate and Security Risk, Crisis Bureau/BPPS at UNDP

Louise van Schaik, @LouiseVanSchaik
Head of Unit EU & Global Affairs/Senior Research Fellow, Clingendael

Louise van Schaik is Head of Unit EU & Global Affairs. She also coordinates Clingendael research in the field of climate change and sustainable development. In her research she has extensively analysed the EU’s performance in multilateral bodies, including in the fields of climate change, health and food standards. She has also published on related research areas such as EU foreign policy, EU climate change and energy policy, EU research policy, scarcity of natural resources and green growth.

Louise has published various policy reports, books, academic articles and commentaries. She regularly gives presentations and lectures to various groups of professionals. She was responsible for the acquisition and implementation of several research projects for governments, (international) foundations, the private sector, and others.

She has a Master's degree in Public Administration from Leiden University (2003) and a PhD in Political Science from the KU Leuven (2010). Prior to joining Clingendael in 2006, she was a Research Fellow at CEPS, the Brussels-based think tank, for four years.

Benedetta Berti-Alberti, @benedettabertiw
Head, Policy Planning
Office of the Secretary-General, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

Special Guest:

Daniel Abrahams,
AAAS Fellow, United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

Moderator:

Sharon Burke, @burkese
Director of Resource Security, New America

The Honorable Sharon E. Burke directs the Resource Security group at New America, which looks at the intersection of security, prosperity, and natural resources. She also serves as a senior advisor to the organization and the Future of War project.

Before joining New America, Burke served in the Obama administration as the assistant secretary of defense for operational energy, a new office that worked to improve the energy security of U.S. military operations. Prior to her service at DoD, Burke held a number of senior U.S. government positions, including at the Department of State in the George W. Bush administration, and was a vice president and senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. She attended Williams College and Columbia University, where she was a Zuckerman and International fellow at the School of International and Public Affairs. Burke publishes widely and is on a number of boards, including for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Key Reference Documents:

Mercy Corps - Climate Fragility: Addressing Barriers to Practice

adelphi - Weathering Risk

adelphi - Synthesis: Climate Security in 3D

SIPRI - Climate-related Security Risks and Peacebuilding in Mali

UNDP - UNDP Climate Security Nexus and Prevention of Violent Extremism

Clingendael - Towards a Better Understanding of Climate Security Practices