Climate issues may induce social conflicts in South Asia
Water issue, cross border migration, loss of livelihood of people and food security would be the major areas of conflict in South Asia
Political and social conflict might be aggravated due to climate induced conflicts in absence of taking regional and extra-regional approach to address climate impacts in South Asia. It was told here on Monday at the concluding briefing of a two- day international roundtable on 'Security Implication of Climate Change in South Asia".(BSS, Dhaka)
Water issue, cross border migration, loss of livelihood of people and food security would be the major areas of conflict in South Asia, which need to be addressed by unified approaches, they said.
The roundtable discussed the dimension of climate related problems in South Asia including possibility of trans-border conflict and deterioration of inter-state relations.The expert group will share a communiqu,, from the roundtable with the heads of government at the SAARC Summit in Bhutan next month.
Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS), Sri Lanka based Regional Center for Security Studies (RCSS) and Peace-building and Development Institute (PDI) and International Alert, a UK based NGO, arranged the roundtable at a city hotel.
The roundtable brought together security experts of Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to have regional exchange on climate security in South Asia.
President of BIPSS Major General Muniruzzaman (retd) said climate change would create enormous human security problems in South Asia, where one fifth of total global population live. Particularly, water and migration issues would be major concerns for regional security, he said. Dan Smith of International Alert said security implications of climate change are very real but relatively unexplored issue worldwide and in South Asia. Political leaders should give space for a critical discussion on the inter-linkages between climate change and climate induced conflicts in South Asia.
Geetha De Silva of RCSS and Mohammad Mahuruf of PDI were also present at the briefing.
Moniruzzaman said Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) has apprehended that around 200 million people of Bangladesh would be displaced due to climate events. But, the action plan lacks solution of the problem, he observed.
The two-day roundtable urged the governments to approach with five policy objectives to address climate conflicts.
These are- adaptation to climate change needs to be conflict sensitive, development needs to be climate proof, shift towards low-carbon economies must be supportive of development and peace, steps must be taken to strengthen social capacity and greater efforts should be given to resolve the regional challenges.
http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2010/03/30/news0421.htm
Water issue, cross border migration, loss of livelihood of people and food security would be the major areas of conflict in South Asia, which need to be addressed by unified approaches, they said.
The roundtable discussed the dimension of climate related problems in South Asia including possibility of trans-border conflict and deterioration of inter-state relations.The expert group will share a communiqu,, from the roundtable with the heads of government at the SAARC Summit in Bhutan next month.
Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS), Sri Lanka based Regional Center for Security Studies (RCSS) and Peace-building and Development Institute (PDI) and International Alert, a UK based NGO, arranged the roundtable at a city hotel.
The roundtable brought together security experts of Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to have regional exchange on climate security in South Asia.
President of BIPSS Major General Muniruzzaman (retd) said climate change would create enormous human security problems in South Asia, where one fifth of total global population live. Particularly, water and migration issues would be major concerns for regional security, he said. Dan Smith of International Alert said security implications of climate change are very real but relatively unexplored issue worldwide and in South Asia. Political leaders should give space for a critical discussion on the inter-linkages between climate change and climate induced conflicts in South Asia.
Geetha De Silva of RCSS and Mohammad Mahuruf of PDI were also present at the briefing.
Moniruzzaman said Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) has apprehended that around 200 million people of Bangladesh would be displaced due to climate events. But, the action plan lacks solution of the problem, he observed.
The two-day roundtable urged the governments to approach with five policy objectives to address climate conflicts.
These are- adaptation to climate change needs to be conflict sensitive, development needs to be climate proof, shift towards low-carbon economies must be supportive of development and peace, steps must be taken to strengthen social capacity and greater efforts should be given to resolve the regional challenges.
http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2010/03/30/news0421.htm
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