Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, Asialink and the Australia-India Institute are proud to host Prof. Hans-Georg Bohle, from Bonn University in Germany to address the question of ‘Whose security counts in climate change?’ The current debate on climate change as a security risk assumes that the impact of climate change will be beyond the adaptive capacities of many societies. This will cause violent conflicts within and between states and lead to massive destabilizations of entire regions or even “climate wars”.
Against the background of current conflicts around water, food and health in India - conflicts that will certainly be exacerbated through climate change in the future - the presentation argues that it is not primarily the security concerns of the affluent countries that count. It is rather the “human security” of the poorest in developing countries which is at stake. Violence sparked by climate change is, first and foremost, violence against the precarious livelihoods of those populations who will be most exposed to the impacts of climate change, and have the least capacities to cope and adapt. From this perspective, climate change is a security risk that threatens “human security” and exerts “structural violence” on the most vulnerable: it curtails their access to scarce natural resources; it reduces their environmental entitlements; and it pushes them even further to the margins of their survival. Whose security counts? This is a challenge for human geography to develop analytical tools that can grasp the interface between global risks and local vulnerabilities in the face of climate change.
DATE: Wednesday 10th February 2010
TIME: 6.00pm-7.30pm
VENUE: Yasuko Hiraoka Myer Room, Level 1, Sidney Myer Asia Centre, Gate 4, The University of Melbourne, (Cnr Monash Road and Swanston Street,
opposite the Swanston St ‘University’ Tram Super Stop)
ENQUIRIES: Craig Prebble +613 8344 3096
REGISTRATION:Register online
![Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute]()
![Asialink]()
![Australia India Institute]()
Against the background of current conflicts around water, food and health in India - conflicts that will certainly be exacerbated through climate change in the future - the presentation argues that it is not primarily the security concerns of the affluent countries that count. It is rather the “human security” of the poorest in developing countries which is at stake. Violence sparked by climate change is, first and foremost, violence against the precarious livelihoods of those populations who will be most exposed to the impacts of climate change, and have the least capacities to cope and adapt. From this perspective, climate change is a security risk that threatens “human security” and exerts “structural violence” on the most vulnerable: it curtails their access to scarce natural resources; it reduces their environmental entitlements; and it pushes them even further to the margins of their survival. Whose security counts? This is a challenge for human geography to develop analytical tools that can grasp the interface between global risks and local vulnerabilities in the face of climate change.
DATE: Wednesday 10th February 2010
TIME: 6.00pm-7.30pm
VENUE: Yasuko Hiraoka Myer Room, Level 1, Sidney Myer Asia Centre, Gate 4, The University of Melbourne, (Cnr Monash Road and Swanston Street,
opposite the Swanston St ‘University’ Tram Super Stop)
ENQUIRIES: Craig Prebble +613 8344 3096
REGISTRATION:Register online
