Climate change as a security threat: Legal and strategic implications

Climate change continues to be analyzed as a threat to nontraditional security that is beyond the scope of traditional state-based security systems. Therefore, this thesis elucidates the topic of ‘climate change and security’ in its legal and strategic context. The research explores how climate change challenges conventional security structures by increasing scarcity of resources, population displacement, and state vulnerability in the affected areas. It assesses the effectiveness of international legal systems, including the Paris Agreement, in addressing conflict arising from climate change and shows the shortcomings of present systems. In doing so, it reveals the seriousness of the linkage between ecological hazards and geostrategic relations and insists on adopting obligatory international compacts to address these novel threats. Combined, this research underlines the complexity of the approach that would necessitate multiple perspectives and agendas: climate resilience, addressing inequality, and solidifying international relations. The study makes a scholarly contribution to the growing literature on climate security by providing policy relevant knowledge that will enhance the efforts of policymakers to reduce various risks and support the promotion of sustainable peace in the wake of emerging climate change challenges.