A new climate diplomacy for global peace

In this episode we discuss the implications of climate change on global conflict and peace, with a focus on climate migration and international cooperation.

  • Climate change and international cooperation
  • Climate migrants and refugees
  • Political leadership beyond election cycles and long-term solutions

Our guest Prof Ashok Swain is an expert on global security challenges, water sharing issues, environment, conflict and peace, and democratic development issues. He is a professor of Peace and Conflict Research, UNESCO Chair of International Water Cooperation, and the Director of Research School of International Water Cooperation at Uppsala University, Sweden. He received his PhD from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India in 1991, and since then he has been teaching at the Uppsala University. Some of his publications are: ‘The Environmental Trap’ (Uppsala University, 1996), ‘International Fresh Water Resources: Conflict or Cooperation’ (SEI, 1997), ‘Managing Water Conflict: Asia, Africa and the Middle East’ (Routledge, 2004), ‘Transboundary Water Management and the Climate Change Debate (Routledge, 2015), ‘Emerging Security Threats in the Middle East: The Impact of Climate Change and Globalization’ (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016). Find him on twitter.

Our interviewer Lou Del Bello is a senior science journalist specialised in climate change, environmental issues and international relations. She has more than seven years’ experience as a reporter, editor and producer, and has worked in a broad range of roles, from managing a newsroom to investigating the environmental and social impacts of big coal mines from the ground. She has lived in Italy, the UK, Kenya and is now based in India, where she works as special projects editor for The Third Pole in Delhi. Her interests include environmental issues such as pollution and contamination, climate finance and diplomacy, international trade and conservation. Lou also writes a weekly newsletter called Lights On in which she tracks the climate, energy and business debate in South Asia. Find her on Twitter.

Episode notes and references:

Music by Ritesh Prasanna

Podcast website: https://atmospherictales.com