Climate change threatens peace efforts: SIPRI

Climate change is threatening the success of peacekeeping missions, according to a policy briefing by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

Due to the compound nature of climate change, anything short of a holistic approach undermines the long-term success of peacekeeping operations, Florian Krampe, researcher on climate change and security at SIPRI, told journalists.

"While you are trying to patch the boat on one side, five more holes open up on the other," said Krampe. "Military responses will not be able to address the issue, because while climate change is creating hard security challenges, there are simply no hard security solutions."

"We need to change the way we are dealing with peacebuilding in these increasingly complex contexts if our aim is to build peace, especially if with peace we mean something more than the mere absence of violence."    (DW)