Confronting Climate Change and Reframing Security

Abstract

Scientific consensus has emerged that emissions from economically important human activities worldwide are accelerating the impacts of climate change, with profound consequences for national economies and ecosystems. In recent years, official documents of many governments have acknowledged that environmental changes present security challenges. This paper highlights some of the challenges environmental security poses for traditional security concepts. It concludes that current institutions and policy paradigms are ill-equipped to manage these challenges and explores the potential for reframing the concept of “security” in ways that help decision-makers devise pluralistic and resilient societies.