In recent years, the security impacts of environmental change have increasingly been noted in policy discussion. In particular, the threat that climate change poses to the society, or its role in conflicts and their prevention, has featured in the speeches of politicians and military officers alike. Yet this acknowledgement has not widely been channelled into concrete actions to address environmental threats through foreign and security policy. In addition, the variety of geopolitical implications of environmental change and the measures to mitigate it have yet to befully understood.
This seminar, which marks the end of a series of workshops held at FIIA, explores the role of environmental security as a part of foreign and security policy. How could the diverse impacts of environmental change be taken into account in policy-making, and is there a need for a comprehensive approach? What should be the main points of focus for a European country like Finland? Has research succeeded at adequately supporting decision-making with relevant knowledge?
The seminar is co-organised by the Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA), BIOS Research
Unit, University of Helsinki and the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI).
kommentit
Laura Lindgren
Laura Lindgren is Counsellor at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. She
has several years of work experience at the Ministry, and has previously worked,
among others, at the Embassy of Finland in Sweden and the Finnish Permanent
Representation to the European Union. In her current role, she is the Mediation
Coordinator and teamleader for the mediation team at the Political Department of
the Ministry.
Niina Tenhio
Niina Tenhio is an Adviser on Development Policy at Fingo, a Finnish NGO platform
on global development. She specializes on development finance and the area
of development and security. She has previously worked on a variety of issues
linked to peace and development at the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and
UN Women in Afghanistan and UNDP in Kosovo, among others.
Atte Harjanne
Atte Harjanne is a member of parliament and Helsinki city council, representing
the Green party. Previously he worked as a researcher at the Finnish Meteorological
Institute, where he focused on studying climate risk management and socioeconomic
impacts of climate change.
Jussi T. Eronen
Jussi T. Eronen is Associate Professor of Sustainability Science, Ecosystems and
Environment Research Programme and Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science
(HELSUS) at the University of Helsinki. His research focuses on understanding the
ecological and climate related interlinkages with human activities in the present
and in the long-term historic past. Eronen is also a founding member of the BIOS
Research Unit and in the core team of the Scientific Consensus on Maintaining
Humanity’s Life Support Systems in the 21st Century.