Climate change and security in the Mediterranean: exploring the nexus, unpacking international policy responses

Framing the Climate Emergency in the Mediterranean

A new book examines the multidimensional relationship between climate change and security across Mediterranean Basin states and societies. It is specifically underscoring the key social, political and economic challenges of the present climate emergency and outlining possible cooperative avenues to mitigate its most adverse effects.

This book is part of a broader research and engagement agenda on climate and the environment undertaken by the New-Med Research Network, a research network of Mediterranean experts and policy analysts with a special interest in the complex social, political, cultural and security-related dynamics that are unfolding in the Mediterranean region.

The book is building on the international conference “Climate Change and Security in the Mediterranean: Exploring the Nexus, Unpacking International Policy Responses” organised in the framework of the New-Med Research Network in Barcelona on 17 December 2021 and co-organised by New-Med, the Union for the Mediterranean and the OSCE Secretariat.

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© 2022 Edizioni Nuova Cultura – Roma. ISBN: 9788833654584. Cover design: Marco Pigliapoco, Cover photo: Shutterstock, Graphic 

Individual chapters tackling different dimensions of the climate change-security nexus in the Mediterranean

The individual chapters assess the nexus dimension on State and societal resilience, The future of living ecosystems and the stability of social contracts, as well as the urgent need to strengthen genuine intra-Mediterranean collaboration to face the climate emergency and promote an equitable sharing of the risks and burdens associated with the green energy transition. The chapters are written by leading scientists, academics and policy researchers, of which climate experts from the MedECC network with years of high-level experience in policy research and outreach with international organisations and policymaking communities on climate change.

Table of content:

Introduction: Framing the Climate Emergency in the Mediterranean, by Andrea Dessì and Flavia Fusco

1. Climate Security in the Mediterranean: What Prospects for Regional Cooperation?, by Niklas Bremberg
1.1 International cooperation on climate security: An overview
1.2 Climate-related security risks in the Mediterranean region
1.3 Recent regional climate actions in the Mediterranean
1.4 Prospects for regional cooperation on climate security

2. The Mediterranean as a Climate Change Hotspot: Implications for State and Societal Resilience, by Wolfgang Cramer and Joël Guiot
2.1 Climate-related drivers of risk
2.2 Non-climatic drivers of risk
2.3 Risks for water resources and food supply
2.4 Risks for marine and terrestrial ecosystems
2.5 Risks for human livelihoods
2.6 Increasing economic resilience through mitigation and adaptation
2.7 The Mediterranean potential for sustainability transformation
2.8 Equity, climate justice and human rights

3. Drought, Desertification and Displacement: Re-Politicising the Climate-Conflict Nexus in the Sahel, by Luca Raineri
3.1 The Sahel, a key test for the climate-conflict nexus hypothesis
3.2 Exploring the nexus across time
3.3 Droughts, famines and rebellions
3.4 Desertification, regreening and competition for land use
3.5 Re-politicising the climate-conflict nexus
3.6 Recommendations

4. Renewable Energy in the Mediterranean: Pathways for Multilateral Cooperation, by Silvia Pariente-David and Philippe Drobinski
4.1 The policy context
4.2 The Mediterranean wealth: Plentiful carbonless energy resources
4.3 Mediterranean energy market integration
4.4 Pathways for multilateral cooperation

New-Med research network

Established in June 2014, New-Med is a research network of Mediterranean experts and policy analysts with a special interest in the complex social, political, cultural and security-related dynamics that are unfolding in the Mediterranean region. The network is run by the Istituto Affari Internazionali IAI (Italy), in cooperation with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI), the OSCE Secretariat in Vienna and the Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation. At the core of New-Med’s activities stands the need to rethink the role of multilateral, regional and sub-regional organisations, making them better equipped to respond to fast-changing local and global developments and address the pressing demands coming from Mediterranean States and societies.

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