Human Security in Times of Climate Change: Climate Diplomacy for Integrated Action

In a world increasingly threatened by environmental change and disruptions, such as disasters, the need for adopting ‘human security’ approach has assumed greater significance. In order to address these challenges, efforts have been made at different levels, including the establishment of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on climate change, but the security factors have not been sufficiently integrated into them. Similarly, security policies and strategies at national and international levels have fallen short of incorporating environmental and climate variables in an operational manner. Against this background, this chapter looks into the discourse on human security and environmental concerns, also linking climate change to security through the lens of human security, using examples from South Asia. It provides an analytical overview of the policy responses that reflect on the three issues (disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and sustainable development), with a focus on the Sendai Framework. Most importantly, this chapter argues in favour of adopting climate diplomacy tools to streamline climate change as a diplomatic priority, promote disaster-resilient development and build synergies between international frameworks on climate change, sustainable development and disaster risk reduction.