OSCE well-placed to address security threats from climate change, say conference participants

BUCHAREST, 5 October 2009 - Experts and representatives of OSCE participating States, international organizations and institutions began a two-day OSCE Chairmanship conference today in Bucharest to look at how the OSCE can contribute to reducing the security threats that may arise from climate change.

Participants will discuss how challenges linked to climate change could exacerbate tensions among and within states, and how the OSCE could help to anticipate problems and offset tensions before they unfold.

Romanian Secretary of State Bogdan Aurescu said that the OSCE should analyse the security implications of climate change according to the comprehensive concept of security. "The implications on the human security of our citizens are paramount," he said.

"We should therefore take advantage of the existing OSCE mechanisms - early warning, conflict prevention, management and resolution - and integrate a special focus on climate change issues."

With just two months to go before a major UN conference on climate change in Copenhagen, Ambassador Louis-Alkiviadis Abatis, representing the Greek OSCE Chairmanship, called on the conference participants to "bring together their expertise and suggest concrete proposals for the OSCE to tackle the security implications of climate change."

"The climate change security nexus is in front of us," he said. "This is the main reason why the Greek Chairmanship has organized this conference."

OSCE Secretary General Marc Perrin de Brichambaut said the OSCE's mandate for early warning and conflict prevention made it "well-placed to monitor and examine how climate change may act as a threat multiplier - across the OSCE area, in specific sub-regions and in disputes over critical resources such as water and energy."

"The challenges raised by climate change are challenges also to the existing system of international security governance. This is a global phenomenon that will have consequences for the future security architecture of our planet. It is vital that all international institutions perform at their best and co-operate closely in addressing this crucial challenge," he said.

The Co-ordinator for OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities, Goran Svilanovic, said his office would start a project to quantify the security implications of climate change in the fields of natural resources, energy and food availability.

"The climate crisis is fundamentally an energy crisis, with strong links to the current economic crisis, and all these topics are priorities for my office in 2009," he said.

For more information, please see the conference website: //www.osce.org/conferences/eea_2009_climat.html