[Radix] Fwd: climate and security redux

[George Kent]

Ben, radixers --

Ben said, " I personally don’t think the international level is where  
“early warning” and “preparedness” issues are most effectively tackled  
in the short and medium run. Rather, I work myself mostly at local  
level with sub-national governmental entities (cities, countries, the  
district level in, for example, Tanzania), where there may (or may  
not) be openings, more accountability, and concrete opportunities."

Certainly it is difficult to work the climate issue at the global  
level, but we should be sure not to neglect that level. I say this out  
of watching the international agencies concerned with food issues  
endlessly dump the issue back to the national level, as if there were  
really no challenge to global governance. This is why I recently  
edited a book on Global Obligations for the Right to Food.

Climate and security is inherently a global issue, demanding attention  
from the global community. We need to stay on it. Think globally, and  
act globally as well as locally. Where is the serious planning at the  
global level for dealing with climate issues?

Aloha, George



On Jul 11, 2008, at 8:39 AM, bwisner at igc.org wrote:

> Hi, Patrick and Josh,
>
>
> Concerning climate and security, I have a couple of remarks.  I have  
> just returned from meeting with a grad student in Paris who is one  
> of a group just now (re)discovering the critical (aka "radical")  
> Anglophone writings on disaster risk from the 1970s and 1980s.  I  
> was also struck with the amount of interest there is among grad  
> students in France in the events of May 1968.  I really had thought  
> that all that had slipped beneath a cozy blanket of professionalism  
> and existential concerns with career, family, consumption…
>
>  So the first thing I’d suggest to you, Josh, is that your cast your  
> net more widely.  The references in your note what Patrick shared  
> are exclusively to US institutions and lines of research.  The way  
> that some European countries, not to mention India, China, Brazil,  
> etc. see the relationship between climate and security are likely  
> quite different.
>
>  Secondly, I am unclear what you mean by “security.”  You may find  
> of interest a paper by a group of us circulated a while ago that  
> distinguishes human security (and the MDGs) from geopolitical  
> security (see http://www.radixonline.org/cchs.html ).
>
>  Thirdly, I personally don’t think the international level is where  
> “early warning” and “preparedness” issues are most effectively  
> tackled in the short and medium run. Rather, I work myself mostly at  
> local level with sub-national governmental entities (cities,  
> countries, the district level in, for example, Tanzania), where  
> there may (or may not) be openings, more accountability, and  
> concrete opportunities.
>
>  All the best, BEN
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Patrick Meier
> Sent: Jul 11, 2008 8:27 AM
> To: radix at ecie.org
> Subject: [Radix] Fwd: climate and security redux
>
> Hello All,
>
> Would be great to get any guidance on Josh's question.
> Feel free to reply directly to him (and maybe cc this list?).
>
> On Josh:
>
> http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/faculty/joshua-busby/
>
> Thanks!
> Patrick
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Josh Busby <busbyj at austin.utexas.edu>
> Date: Tue, Jul 8, 2008 at 3:44 PM
> Subject: climate and security redux
> To: Patrick P Meier <Patrick.Meier at tufts.edu>
>
>
> Patrick,
>
> I hope all is well. I'm continuing to work on climate and security.  
> My academic piece is finally set to come out in Security Studies  
> later this year. I've seen the copy edits and am waiting on the  
> proofs.
>
> I've got a new piece for a Brookings edited volume that I'm working  
> on. It will include some pieces from my CFR report, but I'm trying  
> to identify more initiatives the international community could or  
> should take to address the security consequences of climate change.  
> Here, I'm thinking again of early warning systems, disaster  
> management, but I'd like to get beyond the boilerplate heading of  
> "invest in early warning systems." I'm particularly struck by the  
> limitations of what the international community was able to do after  
> Nargis in Myanmar. I understand that the Burmese got early warning  
> from the Indians but did not take much action to prepare their  
> population.
>
> I'd welcome any thoughts you had as to the latest state of play. You  
> may have some ready-made thoughts on this in recent papers or on  
> your blog. Happy to read something if it is a better use of time!  
> Or, talk on the phone. In any case, I look forward to hearing from  
> you. I'm doing a roundtable at APSA on the topic with Idean Salehyan  
> and Jay Gulledge of the Pew Center. I think we're Friday morning.  
> Hope to catch up over coffee at APSA while I'm in town.
>
> Congrats on your dual gig at Harvard. How did that come about?
>
> All the best,
>
> JB
>
>
>
> -- 
> Consultant & PhD Candidate
> The Fletcher School at Tufts University
> http://fletcher.tufts.edu/phd/students/Meier.shtml
> http://irevolution.wordpress.com <-blog
>
> Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI)
> Doctoral Research Fellow
> www.hhi.harvard.edu
>
>
>
>
>
>
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