The View from MSC: Sustainable Security in a Hot and Hungry World
IAI - Istituto Affari Internazionali
Ideas for Italy, Europe and the world
Welcome back to Reshaping Multilateralism, a newsletter from the team at the Nexus25 project. Every month, we bring you the latest from the climate-security-migration nexus, with a particular focus on how to make multilateralism work for everyone - not just the Global North.
Last month, the Nexus25 team traveled to the Munich Security Conference, an annual gathering of the who’s who in transatlantic security (or as one prominent think tanker said after MSC 2020, “a sort of Cannes film festival for ugly people”). This year’s conference took place amidst a contentious geopolitical environment, and discussions were dominated by lagging support for Ukraine, a violent conflict in Gaza, the climate crisis, and upcoming elections.?
Now that attendees have returned home and are preparing for key multilateral summits this spring, the team recently sat down with two MSC attendees - WFP Berlin Executive Director Dr. Martin Frick, and Nisreen Elsaim, a Sudanese climate activist and former chair of the UN Secretary General’s Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change - to discuss the highs and lows of MSC2024 - and what to keep an eye on in the multilateral space this spring. You can listen to the full debrief here or wherever you get your podcasts, but some quick highlights of the conversation include:
On Munich Security Conference and Climate Change: While the MSC has traditionally focused on hard security threats, the conference is now addressing non-traditional challenges like climate change and food security in its programming. Even discussions with military actors noted the security implications of a changing climate, recognizing the inherent threats to their infrastructure, energy sources, force posture, and overall global security. As noted by Dr. Frick,
“World leaders have seen and understood how very vulnerable our global food system is and that this vulnerability also applies to shocks from climate change.
However, this year’s discussion was just the tip of the iceberg, and there's more to be done to translate this rhetoric into concrete action at upcoming forums like the G7 and NATO Summit.?
On Food and Conflict: Russia’s war in Ukraine and the ongoing conflict in Gaza exposed the fragility of the modern agri-food system, sparking increased attention toward the hunger-climate-conflict nexus. This focus was evident at the Munich Security Conference as well, with multiple food-focused side events and the launch of a formal MSC Food Security Task Force this year. For those still unclear on why a security conference is focusing on hunger, Dr. Frick explained that
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“Food security is a function of peace, and the lack of food security is the last consequence of everything else going wrong…food security is the lens you can apply to actually make your way through a difficult situation and create the conditions that really are needed to get a country into development and hopefully into stability.”
On Breaking Down Silos: A core component of the Nexus25 project’s work and current discussions around the future of multilateralism at MSC, center on breaking down silos between (and within) different actors. However, another urgent challenge is the gap between those on the frontlines of climate change, particularly young people and Global South stakeholders, and policymakers. As noted by Nisreem,
“It is not enough to bring the Global South to an event, it is not enough to put them in a panel, it is not enough to listen to them.”
Breaking down these silos will be challenging, requiring a complete reimagination of business as usual, but is critical to create policies that are durable and work for everyone.
We’ll continue discussing these issues and more in next month’s newsletter and podcast. From rising sea levels to heat waves and droughts, we’ll take readers and listeners to South Asia, the world’s most populous region on the front lines of climate change. In March, in partnership with WFP Officer Baisali Mohanty and journalist Thin Lei Win, we put out a brief explainer on these dynamics in India, but will be expanding the discussion to cover regional institutions and risks - particularly in places like Pakistan and Myanmar. Key areas of opportunity for India’s political leaders include:
As we prep for our next podcast episode, we’ll be reading:
Nexus25 is a joint initiative from global experts at Istituto Affari Internazionali and the Center for Climate and Security funded by Stiftung Mercator. For more from the Nexus25 team, go to www.nexus25.org for our full body of research or click the “subscribe” button in the upper right corner of the page.