Climate Security in the Indo-Pacific: Priorities and Challenges

Dhanasree Jayaram and Aanehi Mundra
The climate vulnerabilities of the Indo-Pacific region have grown immensely with grave implications for regional, national, human, and ecological security. Climate action has been prioritized by most countries, including by integrating it into their national security strategies and reiterating the need for cooperation among the countries. Yet there are several impediments to effective collaborative climate action such as the lack of climate finance and geopolitical tensions. Against this backdrop, this issue brief locates climate security within the Indo-Pacific strategies of countries in the region (Australia, New Zealand, the U.S., India, Japan, and South Korea) as well as regional organizations (ASEAN and the Pacific Islands Forum or PIF) besides the European Union (EU), an extra-regional player, and the Quad. The climate security agenda in the Indo-Pacific requires to be strengthened through closer coordination among and between countries and regional/sub-regional actors to mitigate divergences, reinforce convergences, and achieve both climate and development objectives.
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