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  • Home
  • About RSIS
      • Introduction
      • Building the Foundations
      • Welcome Message
      • Board of Governors
      • Staff Profiles
        • Executive Deputy Chairman’s Office
        • Dean’s Office
        • Management
        • Distinguished Fellows
        • Faculty and Research
        • Associate Research Fellows, Senior Analysts and Research Analysts
        • Visiting Fellows
        • Adjunct Fellows
        • Administrative Staff
      • Honours and Awards for RSIS Staff and Students
      • RSIS Endowment Fund
      • Endowed Professorships
      • Career Opportunities
      • Getting to RSIS
  • Research
      • Research Centres
        • Centre for Multilateralism Studies (CMS)
        • Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre)
        • Centre of Excellence for National Security (CENS)
        • Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS)
        • International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR)
      • Research Programmes
        • National Security Studies Programme (NSSP)
        • Studies in Inter-Religious Relations in Plural Societies (SRP) Programme
      • Future Issues and Technology Cluster
      • [email protected] Newsletter
      • Other Research
        • Science and Technology Studies Programme (STSP) (2017-2020)
  • Graduate Education
      • Graduate Programmes Office
      • Overview
      • MSc (Asian Studies)
      • MSc (International Political Economy)
      • MSc (International Relations)
      • MSc (Strategic Studies)
      • NTU-Warwick Double Masters Programme
      • PhD Programme
      • Exchange Partners and Programmes
      • How to Apply
      • Financial Assistance
      • Meet the Admissions Team: Information Sessions and other events
      • RSIS Alumni
  • Alumni & Networks
      • Alumni
      • Asia-Pacific Programme for Senior Military Officers (APPSMO)
      • Asia-Pacific Programme for Senior National Security Officers (APPSNO)
      • International Strategy Forum-Asia (ISF-Asia)
      • SRP Executive Programme
      • Terrorism Analyst Training Course (TATC)
  • Publications
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        • Annual Reviews
        • Books
        • Bulletins and Newsletters
        • Commentaries
        • Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses
        • Commemorative / Event Reports
        • IDSS Paper
        • Interreligious Relations
        • Monographs
        • NTS Insight
        • Policy Reports
        • Working Papers
        • RSIS Publications for the Year
      • Glossary of Abbreviations
      • External Publications
        • Authored Books
        • Journal Articles
        • Edited Books
        • Chapters in Edited Books
        • Policy Reports
        • Working Papers
        • Op-Eds
        • External Publications for the Year
      • Policy-relevant Articles Given RSIS Award
  • Media
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      • Sustainable Security
      • Other Resource Pages
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    • RSIS
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    • Human Securitising’ the Climate Security Debate (MacArthur ASI WP No. 2)
    • Annual Reviews
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    Human Securitising’ the Climate Security Debate (MacArthur ASI WP No. 2)
    Lorraine Elliott

    22 April 2010

    download pdf

    Abstract

    Efforts to understand the connection between climate change and national, regional and international security have fuelled something of a climate security industry, evidenced in a range of reports from governments, international organisations, and non-governmental organisations. In much of this, particularly those works produced by defence agencies and individual governments, the focus has been on threats to national security through civil unrest and violence that derive from competition for resources, access to environmental services, and the unregulated movement of people in the face of ecosystem collapse. This paper reinstates a human security approach. It explores not just the human insecurities that are generated by climate change, with a particular focus on the Asia-Pacific, but examines how human security models provide (i) different ways of interpreting climate conflict ‘triggers’ and (ii) different and more effective strategies for responding to climate insecurity. This involves an analytical move from risk to vulnerability and a strategic move from mitigation to adaptation and social resilience. Despite the challenges that this presents for more orthodox approaches to security, it is also more certain to deliver outcomes that can guarantee security for both peoples and for states.

    Categories: Working Papers / / East Asia and Asia Pacific

    Last updated on 01/07/2014

    Abstract

    Efforts to understand the connection between climate change and national, regional and international security have fuelled something of a climate security industry, evidenced in a range of reports from governments, international organisations, and non-governmental organisations. In much of this, particularly those works produced by defence agencies and individual governments, the focus has been on threats to national security through civil unrest and violence that derive from competition for resources, access to environmental services, and the unregulated movement of people in the face of ecosystem collapse. This paper reinstates a human security approach. It explores not just the human insecurities that are generated by climate change, with a particular focus on the Asia-Pacific, but examines how human security models provide (i) different ways of interpreting climate conflict ‘triggers’ and (ii) different and more effective strategies for responding to climate insecurity. This involves an analytical move from risk to vulnerability and a strategic move from mitigation to adaptation and social resilience. Despite the challenges that this presents for more orthodox approaches to security, it is also more certain to deliver outcomes that can guarantee security for both peoples and for states.

    Categories: Working Papers

    Last updated on 01/07/2014

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    Latest Book
    Human Securitising’ the Climate Security Debate (MacArthur ASI WP No. 2)

    Abstract

    Efforts to understand the connection between climate change and national, regional and international security have fuelled something of a climate secu ...

    more info