Adaptation is not a solution: Loss of security and international order
in a world not focused on greenhouse gas mitigation
Abstract
With the advent
of the anthropocene, climate change is the central problem humans face with GHG
mitigation being the overarching solution.
However, policymakers tend to push mitigation efforts aside while
allowing adaptation efforts to take precedence.
This is especially common in the developed nations, especially the United States,
where it is believed a changing climate could be beneficial to agriculture and
trade. This disregards the possibility
for tipping points and dangerous climate change which would overstress the
international system creating perilous security situations that no country can
escape from. Central to this problem is
the current definition of environmental security, which is contested, and the
seriousness with which the idea is taken.
Defining environmental security accurately is important because how
people conceptualize a problem is based on the way it is thought of and the
contexts in which it is used. Some say
that since environmental security is not a direct threat to the sovereignty of
the state it does not deserve precedence over the economy or territorial
disputes as a cause of conflict. Adaptation is not a solution, however,
argues that the synergy created by the different simultaneous problems climate
change will bring necessitates it precedence over other security concerns. Agricultural problems, increased frequency of
natural disasters, health problems from new and spreading diseases, and the
subsequent economic stress will create expanding compound problems that will
stress the relationships between various nations and the IOs that have been
created within the last half century.
Without defining environmental security as its own discipline the
synergistic effects of the problems of climate change will not have the weight
necessary to make an impact on the field in a timely manner. As a result of the seriousness of climate
change, nations need to move away from a focus on adaptation, despite its
increasingly apparent need now, and begin to take GHG mitigation seriously.
