Fifteenth International Conference on Climate Change: Impacts & Responses

Abstract

This paper examines the multiple strategies proposed by the international community for addressing global climate change (GCC) from both human and state security perspectives. In this examination there is a discussion of the strategies and modifications that have been identified in continuing climate accords reached by the Conferences of the Parties, beginning with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and continuing with agreements reached at the subsequent Conferences of the Parties with some focus on COP26 Glasgow Climate Pact and the outcome of COP27. The prospective success of the three categories of long-recognized strategies, mitigation, adaptation, and capacity building for addressing GCC, hinge on the framing of the challenges of climate change in terms of the prioritization of human vs. state security. Thus, two broad frameworks for approaching these issues provide the basis of discussion for the paper which highlights the strategies that have been identified by the UNFCCC regime. The first framework considers the multiple strategies required of the international community to address the effects of GCC. The second framework considers the differentiation of GCC policies in terms of security and how the efficacy of these strategies could be impacted by whether priority is given to state security over human security concerns. A limited focus on state security in the efforts to confront the challenges of GCC appears to discount the underlying issues that lead to human insecurity and its consequences. There is an expansion of GCC agendas when considerations of human security are considered.