Global Outlook

Committed observers insist that the parties to the conflict sit down at the table immediately and resolve their dispute peacefully and by consensus. The problem is: if the conditions for a peaceful solution in a conflict system had already existed before the escalation, then the use of violence would not have occurred. If the conditions for dialogue are not in place before an escalation, they are usually even less so after the threshold of violence has been crossed.

Climate change may very seriously threaten the material necessities of life and wellbeing. However, focussing on the tangible can cause us to overlook or neglect the non-material elements of people’s security which for most people in, and from, Pacific Islands, are critically important.

Australians are increasingly expressing concerns about the security implications of climate change. This might not be surprising given the long coastline of the country and the frequent occurrence of bushfires, cyclones, droughts, and most recently some of the worst floods in Australia’s history.

The risk of atoll uninhabitability in the context of sea level rise is a well-known issue, often simplified to assume an inevitable mass exodus of atoll populations and thus described as an existential threat.

On the Korean Peninsula, robust national security and the willingness to wage war are not enough to guarantee peace.

Climate crisis could be ‘final nail in the coffin’ for half of all surviving languages, say linguists, as coastal communities are forced to migrate.