Climate change, security concerns related, says Jax researcher

The potentially historic U.N. summit on climate change later this month in Paris, expected to draw President Barack Obama and other world leaders, will be scaled back due to security concerns following the terror attacks Friday that left 129 people dead across the French capital.

But the talks are going forward, although concerts, a planned march, and other festivities will likely be canceled.

Climate change and its long-term impacts have been moved to the back burner for the moment as the world’s attention shifts to the rampages of the Islamic State. However, activists around the issue say the talks have the potential to look at the intersection between the warming of the planet and the growing threat of radicalism.

“The concerns that remain are now- how can the talks continue in light of the attacks? And how can we show that we’re not afraid to work on international cooperation on climate change issues?” said Josh Gellers, assistant professor at UNF.

Gellers is a research fellow at The Earth System Governance Project, the largest network of social scientists working on governance and global environmental change issues. Gellers has been working with the Global Network on Human Rights and the Environment to draft a set of principles on climate change and human rights in advance of the Paris climate talks.

“The pope recently made comments that climate change is an issue that involves all of humanity. Despite the events that occurred in Paris, I fully expect that human rights will be part of the conversation. The question is how much? And will that discussion find its way into the ultimate treaty?”

Gellers spoke during an appearance on WJCT’s First Coast Connect. He’s known for creating the Enviro Rights Map, a Google maps-based resource which catalogs constitutional environmental rights throughout the world.

Noting the partisan divide over climate that has surfaced on the 2016 presidential campaign trail, Gellers says it’s a false choice to ask presidential candidates to choose between issues like terrorism or climate change as their top concern. Bernie Sanders, for example, is currently being ridiculed by conservatives for saying climate change remains his top worry.

“It’s not inaccurate that climate change poses a security concern for the United States and other countries throughout the world. The issue is to what degree. We’ve seen that there is a demonstrable connection between the Syrian refugee crisis and climate change.”

As the Florida-based PolitiFact recently pointed out, a March 2015 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found evidence that climate change led to an extreme drought in Syria’s breadbasket between 2006 to 2009. That, in turn, contributed to growing Syrian unrest, which played a role in the country’s uprising and current refugee crisis.

“We have to think in broader terms about issues like climate change and security. Not whether terrorism is the primary concern or climate change is the primary concern- they’re interrelated,” Gellers said.

Meanwhile, the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, with 195 participating countries, has set a clear-cut goal: to achieve a legally binding agreement, with universal participation among all nations, to keep global warming below what most scientists say is the critical threshold of 2 degrees Celsius. More than 40,000 delegates will be on hand at the largest conference the French government has ever organized, a sure test of strength and solidarity so soon after such a tragic event.