Foreign policy and climate change

Minister of State Pieper delivering the opening address
© Photothek / Köhler

Minister of State Pieper delivering the opening address

“What we’re here to discuss are concrete existential threats that many people are already facing and which we now urgently need to tackle or at least reduce,” Minister of State Pieper noted at the opening of a conference on climate change at the Federal Foreign Office on 10 and 11 October. Under the motto “Climate Diplomacy in Perspective – From Early Warning to Early Action”, participants from over 30 countries will examine how foreign policy can contribute to climate diplomacy.

Three aspects of climate change will be a particular focus of attention: water resource management, global food security and rising sea levels that threaten coastal areas and low-lying island states.

Climate change is a reality

Flooding in Bangladesh
© picture alliance / dpa

Flooding in Bangladesh

Citing the impact climate change was already having on their own countries, Hasan Mahmud, Bangladesh’s Environment Minister, and Mohamed Shareef, Minister of State in the Republic of Maldives Environment Ministry, emphasized the need for urgent action. Climate change did not belong in the realm of speculation, Shareef pointed out. “It is a reality and a threat to us.”

Hasan Mahmud concentrated mainly on the subject of water and described the problems his country faced in this connection. Due in part to glacial melt from the Himalayas and increasing deforestation, during the rainy season Bangladesh had too much water, resulting in flooding rivers. During the dry season people faced water shortages.

In a video message to the conference, the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme UNEP warned of the potentially destabilizing consequences of climate change and appealed for the international community to join forces to address this danger.

Network-building

Minister of State Pieper
© Photothek / Köhler

Minister of State Pieper

In the same vein, Minister of State Pieper called on participants to use the gathering for “energetic network-building with other experts and diplomats” and “to intensify cooperation in these areas of crucial importance for our future”.

She went on to explain that the conference was part of a series of activities the Federal Foreign Office had planned this year to highlight “the threat climate change is likely to pose to peace and security”.

During its presidency of the UN Security Council in July, for example, Germany had placed this issue on the Council’s agenda. In a Presidential Statement delivered on 20 July 2011, the Council recognized that climate change may pose a threat to peace and international security. In a speech to the UN General Assembly on 26 September, Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle recently reaffirmed that “Germany will continue to be in the vanguard in the fight against climate change. Just like disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation, as well as the protection of human rights, the fight against climate change is an integral element of preventive diplomacy.”

Climate change required action not only by the United Nations but also by every individual member of the world organization, Cornelia Pieper insisted. “Every government, every foreign ministry, every civil society must face up to the threats posed by climate change and develop appropriate responses.”

With a view to the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference in Durban in November and December, Pieper noted that “it would be most useful if we could draw up a set of recommendations for international action, especially in the regional organizations represented here today.”

Last updated 10.10.2011