The impact of the climate crisis is posing a direct threat to peace and stability in many parts of the world. Extreme weather conditions such as droughts, floods and storms are already threatening many people’s livelihoods. Twelve of the 20 countries most vulnerable to climate change are affected by armed conflict and the climate crisis is set to exacerbate these dynamics in the future.

Bringing science, data science and policy together

In order to develop science-based responses with a view to prevention, resilience and adaptation and to build on previous initiatives, the US State Department and Germany’s Federal Foreign Office will be jointly hosting the Ministerial Conference Sustaining Peace Amidst the Climate Crisis: The Role of Data Science, Technology & Innovation on 2 and 3 May in Berlin. The Ministerial Conference will bring together policymakers, scientists, practitioners and interested members of the public to share the latest findings and perspectives on the relationship between the climate crisis and peace and stability. One focus of the discussion will be on the contribution that data and innovative technologies in particular can make to preventive action.

The results of the Ministerial Conference will be drawn on at the meeting of G7 Foreign Ministers under Germany’s Presidency in May, the Berlin Climate & Security Conference in November and relevant initiatives at the 27th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27).

All participants at the Ministerial Conference are also invited to contribute to the subsequent PREVIEW Dialogue Series 2022. Within this framework, PREVIEW – the platform for innovative and data-based methods of crisis early warning at the Federal Foreign Office – will develop and make available an open-source visualisation platform featuring climate impact sensor technology in collaboration with representatives from science and politics as well as practitioners.