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Public panel discussion
"Climate change, human security and conflict in Africa"
Location: Hertie School of Governance, Friedrichstraße 180, 10117 Berlin
Time: 17th February 2011, 7.30 pm
Africa is often described as a continent full of instable states and conflict. Climate change is expected to seriously affect many people in Africa, against the background of wide-spread poverty. Climate change has been linked to both negative effects on human security – a situation where people live free from fear and free from want – and to the rise of violent conflicts. However, the evidence for the link between climate change and violent conflict is contested. Adequate policy responses are only beginning to emerge.
This public panel event will discuss the links between climate change, human security and conflict in Africa and appropriate policy responses. Does climate change actually endanger human security and exacerbate existing conflicts or create new ones? Are human security and conflict appropriate concepts in the context of climate change? How can scientific insights on the inter-linkages between climate change, human security and conflicts be integrated into policy-making? What are appropriate responses by African countries and what should or should not be done by Europeans? These are some questions that the panel will address.
Panelists:
Dr. Yacob Arsano, Associate Professor of Political Science and International Relations and former Dean of College of Social Sciences at Addis Abeba University, also visiting professor and Claude Ake Memorial Chair for 2010 at Uppsala University and Nordic Africa Institute, focuses on hydropolitics in the Eastern Nile Basin and political and institutional mechanisms for sustainable water management.
Dr. Halvard Buhaug, Senior Researcher, Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) has undertaken extensive empirical research on the link between conflict and climate change. His recent article "Climate not to blame for African civil wars" has received much public attention.
Dr. Simon Dalby, Professor, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa, has been a leading contributor to the environment and security debate for many years. He has recently published "Security and Environmental Change" (2009).
Eckhard Volkmann, MSc. International Agricultural Economics, is Desk Officer at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Division for Peace and Security. He is responsible, inter alia, for development cooperation with the African Union and the African Peace and Security Architecture as well as cross-cutting issues in the peace and security sector (including climate change and security).
Moderation: R. Andreas Kraemer, Director, Ecologic Institute
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