Climate change, conflict and security scan: December 2018–March 2019

In the third climate change, conflict and security scan, covering the period from December 2018 to March 2019, it is shown that the period has witnessed the release of an astonishing array of new publications – reviewed through the summary of academic articles and grey literature, debates and announcements, and also conveyed through the summary of the blogosphere, and opinions found on Twitter.

Across the blogosphere, debate rages about the place of climate change in US national security priorities, and there is continued academic analysis of the political discourse of climate change found in policy documents and statements. This complements analysis on international and transboundary dimensions of the climate security nexus, with literature pointing to potential ways forward for such challenges in the context of:

• territory allocation in the Arctic

• regional cooperation around shared natural resources in Africa and Asia

• understanding and responding to changing patterns of human mobility across borders.

Themes less prominent in previous scans that appear here include urban landscapes, human mobility, and rights and justice. This complements new evidence on the intersection of disasters with conflict and violence, this time drawing on themes of poverty, inequality and marginalisation.