Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
kicked o
cials insist they are now eager for cooperation on
climate issues as they recognise this will be the factor that most limits China
in 2012.
18
Chinese o
'
s
growth. Signi
cantly, the EU has set up a regional platform for cross-border water
management in Central Asia. The EU
s December 2012 communication on Magh-
reb cooperation also promised to bring North Africa into the reach of EU energy
and climate rules and to work with the region on jointly addressing
'
'
climate-induced
risks
.
19
A number of EU-backed initiatives have sought to establish international
dialogue and research agendas related to the broader impacts of climate change. For
example, the SE4ALL initiative aims at an international network to strengthen
'
'
resi-
'
lience
, while the Euroclima initiative fosters dialogue on the social impact of climate
change in Latin America. Several European leaders made a link between climate
change and the November 2013 typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.
Member states follow suit
Developments at the EU level have been complemented by those within member
states
'
national policies. The German foreign ministry has stated that
'
policy must
be active in more than just the [UNFCCC] negotiating process
'
, and that hence
the government was developing
'
climate and security
'
as a priority
'
new area of
activity
'
.
20
Germany has pushed for the development of a
'
geopolitical change
management that takes into account the e
ects of changing physical environments
on governance structures
ective
brand of preventive climate diplomacy through close coordination in a spirit of
trust and partnership
'
.
21
The German minister of state called for
'
an e
; climate security should become a core topic around which
broader international alliances are constructed in order to head o
'
security tensions,
in exactly the same way that proliferation or human rights have been recognised as
mainstream strategic issues.
22
The German federal foreign o
ce began increasing
its climate change capacity from 2010. Funds for additional posts and a series of
practical initiates were forthcoming after 2011 to help follow-up on Germany
s
climate security agenda in the UNSC. Foreign ministry diplomats in the climate
diplomacy unit work to sensitise other departments to the issues related to climate
security with a view to mainstreaming the latter across all other areas of policy.
The German federal foreign o
'
ce and the UK Foreign O
ce have begun sys-
tematic cooperation on climate security.
German policy has been especially focused on the UN; the country
'
s 2011
e
orts to embed a climate security remit in the UNSC are portrayed as its main
contribution to this agenda. Germany launched a programme of initiatives after its
2011 UNSC chairmanship to generate momentum behind the broader geopolitical
dimension, with the stated aim of getting foreign ministries in other countries to
think more in terms of climate security. This involved an extensive series of
