Regional Climate Security Network

Climate Security for the Arab Region

Syrian Refugees

Camps in Jordan

Sudan Floods

September 2020

Devastating flood across 17 out of the 18 states

Lebanon
Forest Fires

Massive fires devour
the forest of Lebanon

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The Regional Climate Security Network has been founded in December 2020 as a think tank facilitating and promoting the concept of climate security as an integrated approach to climate change mitigation and adaptation across the Arab region. The network is an initiative of the League of Arab States (LAS) and the Arab Water Council (AWC), together with multiple UN agencies (UNDP, UNEP-FI, WFP, UN-Habitat, UNDRR)

What is Climate Security?

“Climate Security is a new concept used to describe and understand the combined impacts of climate-related change on natural resources, ecosystems, socio-economic development and political stability of a country and, therefore, of a region. It aims to emphasize the catalytic effect of climate-related change as a risk multiplier that can lead to multiple threats on human welfare, economic resilience and national security that most immediately affect vulnerable groups, and that necessitate integrated, cross-sectoral mitigation and adaptation efforts.”

(Shared definition developed at the Regional Climate Security Stakeholder Dialogue in December 2020).

Climate Security means that governmental, civil societies institutions and communities are well prepared to mitigate and adapt to climate change and its impacts. This includes ensuring that climate change impacts that exacerbate existing environmental, socio-economic, or political conditions, such as water or food scarcity, poverty, social vulnerability, political or institutional instability, do not compromise community and ecosystem resilience in a way that leads to insecure and unhealthy livelihoods, competition, conflict, or even war.

A country or community is climate secure when functioning and resilient ecosystems, policies, governments, institutions, and social systems are in place that effectively protect all people from climate change impacts that, in combination with other, multi-sectoral factors, threaten their health, safety, socio-economic security, peace and livelihoods. To create functioning and resilient environmental, social, economic, and political environments, the intersection between climate change and other, multi-sectoral processes needs to be well understood to develop effective, integrated, risk aware tools and mechanisms that can address this nexus of risks in a concerted, comprehensive, and pro-active way. The protection of all people means that a special focus must be placed on the identification and protection of vulnerable groups, while flexible planning tools are needed to approach climate security as an evolving process.

Particularly in the Arab Region, the climate security concept is needed to shift the current traditional sectoral policy making processes towards more integrated policy frameworks that engender real, transformational change in tackling sustainability challenges and vulnerabilities.

Climate security is causing additional water stress in a region that is already extremely affected by water scarcity. The arid to semi-arid climate, the lack of renewable water resources that lie within the boundaries of the Arab countries...


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CLIMATE SECURITY & FOOD SECURITY

The Arab world has the highest food deficit and is the highest food-importing region globally. The average annual increase in the food production and consumption gap is increasing throughout the past few years...


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CLIMATE SECURITY & ENERGY SECURITY

Our energy systems, including industry and transportation systems, rely by around 80% on the use of fossil fuels. The combustion of fossil fuels releases CO2 and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere...


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CLIMATE SECURITY, SOCIAL COHESION & GENDER EQUITY

imate change phenomena, such as rising temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns and rainfalls, sea level rise, and the increase in extreme and destructive weather, have an immediate impact on social security and wellbeing...


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