Rethinking Security: No Climate, No Protection

How secure is our future - and what does it depend on? This question is the subject of a recent assessment by the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU). Prof Dr Joscha Wullweber from Witten/Herdecke University (UW/H) is a member of the WBGU and played a leading role in the report. The central demand: security policy must be more broadly based.

The cause is serious. The feeling of insecurity is growing in Europe. Wars, geopolitical tensions and global crises are overlapping. At the same time, international rules are coming under pressure. According to the WBGU, those who only respond by arming themselves fail to recognise the real risks: dwindling livelihoods, fragile societies and the increasing vulnerability of democratic systems. What does this mean? Security policy must take precautions, not just react. It must understand climate protection as a security issue, reduce technological dependencies, curb disinformation and strengthen international cooperation - according to the WBGU.

What must now follow politically

From this, the researchers derive five fields of action for the political strategy of the German government and the National Security Council:

• Protection against climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution in order to preserve the viability of humanity.
• Social cohesion to promote resilient societies.
• Information integrity to make democracy resilient.
• Balanced use of technologies and raw materials to reduce dependencies.

• Strategic, rules-based and fair cooperation to support international co-operation.

   

The current situation assessment is the prelude to further analyses. Further partial reports on the various fields of action are to be published in the coming months.