Climate Change, Hydro-conflicts and Human Security (CLICO)
Description:
Media headlines are dominated by the prospect of regional water wars. Clearly, climate change poses several threats to human security; in particular, hydro-climatic hazards such as droughts and floods have a considerable capacity to exacerbate social tensions, intra- and inter-state conflict. Still, cooperation often trumps conflict. There are surprisingly few peer-reviewed studies rigorously addressing links between climate change, hydrological systems, conflict and security. CLICO filled this gap in knowledge over the social dimensions of climate change, by looking whether hydro-climatic hazards intensify social tensions and conflicts in the Mediterranean, Middle East and Sahel, or if they provide a catalyst for cooperation and peace. It examined why some countries and communities are more vulnerable to droughts, floods and related conflict, and what types of policies and institutions are necessary to ensure adaptation, security and peace in the face of global and regional hydro-climatic change. The project mobilized 13 research teams from Europe, North Africa, Sahel and the Middle East and brought together some of the worlds leading researchers in water resource, vulnerability, and peace and security studies for the first time. Ten cases of hydro-conflicts had been studied ranging from Niger, Sudan, the Jordan and Nile basins to Cyprus, Italy and the Sinai desert. A large dataset the first of its kind of hydro-conflicts in the Mediterranean, Middle East and Sahel will be regressed against climatic, hydrological and socio-economic variables. Policies and institutions at the national, international and transboundary levels had been investigated and their ability to face climate change and ensure human security had been be assessed. Project results have been synthesised in a report that identified potential security hotspots in the region and provided fresh policy ideas for promoting peace and security under changing hydro-climatic conditions.
Project information
Lead
UNIVERSITAT AUTONOMA DE BARCELONA, Spain
Partners
EIDGENOESSISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE ZURICH, Switzerland CENTRO DE INVESTIGACION ECOLOGICA YAPLICACIONES FORESTALES, Spain UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX, United Kingdom THE CYPRUS RESEARCH AND EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION, Cyprus THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM, Israel SUEZ CANAL UNIVERSITY, Egypt PALESTINIAN HYDROLOGY GROUP FOR WATER & ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT, West Bank and Gaza Strip ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY, Ethiopia UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA, United Kingdom INSTITUTT FOR FREDSFORSKNING STIFTELSE, Norway ECOLOGIC INSTITUT GEMEINNÜTZIGE GMBH, Germany ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN SCIENCE ORGANIZATION, Belgium UNITED NATIONS UNIVERSITY, Japan
Source of funding
FP7
Published in Climate-ADAPT Jun 07 2016 - Last Modified in Climate-ADAPT Dec 12 2023