An Interview with Emma Hakala
On connections between climate security and civil society, importance of inequality discussion and risks of securitization of climate change
Author: Sahana Subramanian
What does a ‘safer climate’ mean for a climate security researcher and how does civil society fit in the discussion on climate security? To discuss this, we sat down with Dr. Emma Hakala, Senior Researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, who specializes in climate security and the geopolitics of climate change. She is also affiliated with the University of Helsinki Toxic Crimes project that deals with the environmental destruction of conflicts. Her previous research experience includes environmental security in the Western Balkans with a focus on how international organisations used the concept of ‘environmental security’ to promote peace building.
-Climate security refers to the challenges, threats, or risks that climate change has on the security of societies and on individuals or countries, Emma summarises. Climate safety, on the other hand, refers more to preparedness; it is less political and perhaps easier to approach from a civil society point of view. [Editor’s comment: for our Finnish-speaking readers, it may be good to point out that in Finnish we mostly use one word, ‘turvallisuus’, to refer to both safety and security. There are also separate terms for, among others, comprehensive security [kokonaisturvallisuus] and human security [inhimillinen turvallisuus]).
Climate security can be a loaded term that brings in discussions of politics of power and issues of (geo)political interest. In relation to the Initiative for a Safer Climate, Emma supports the use of the term ‘safer’ climate and taking ownership of this dimension of climate safety and security.
-This is also a space where civil society can get involved, she says.
New collaborations enable bringing civil society more into the climate security framework, especially while talking about climate change. Most often, Emma describes, these discussions are left to the security experts but civil society must also play a role in defining and framing climate security. She agrees that initiatives such as Safer Climate are an important step for civil society groups to network and to talk about planning, foresight, and other related issues.
When asked what civil society and academia could do together to achieve these common goals, Emma suggests supporting dialogue and action via organizing workshops, events, and get-togethers where better foresight for climate security and preparedness could be discussed. This is where civil society organisations, that have a good understanding of the needs of different groups of people, can contribute and researchers can come forward with more research-based information about climate change impacts.
How about the challenges - what kind of tension could arise from this type of collaborations?
Working with a variety of actors, says Emma, often brings along differences in opinions and interests. For example, if civil society groups advocate for something that goes against the scientific research findings, there would be an issue. However, this is not a reason to avoid cooperation between academia and civil society - instead, it is exactly for this reason why we should have dialogues and reasoning between the two.
Climate security in Finland: potential threats to equality and social well-being
In general, Finland and the other Nordic countries are not at extreme direct security risk due to climate change but there are relevant cascading and transitioning impacts, says Emma. Many of the cascading risks are transboundary and often caused by a chain of climate events in other parts of the world or supply chain disruptions, for example, that may have an impact on Finland.
-This is an important thing that we need to be prepared for.
Dealing with climate change related risks is necessarily connected to climate change mitigation and adaptation. Emma mentions that when we have to change social structures in a notable way, there will be some implications for social security. This could mean rising inequality, fractions in society or increasing inequality between the countryside and the city, for example. The impacts in Finland, as she describes to us, may not directly threaten the lives of the people. These threats are at the societal level and refer more to the stability and institutions of the society that might be at risk. Climate impacts are also easily connected with other social and political developments, hence they might be used for hybrid influencing, she explains.
Emma mentioned rising inequalities as one of the transitional impact due to climate change in Finland. Where and how does she see inequality fitting into climate security talk? This, she says, is an important discussion that has not been incorporated into climate security until now. It is a huge aspect of climate security discussions, especially considering that inequality and injustice have huge implications for the security of society.
-Therefore, these topics [inequality and injustice] should have a bigger voice in climate security discussions, she reiterates. This is especially to make sure that decisions aren’t taken against the will of the people in the name of climate security. Therefore, it is important to maintain this aspect of justice. Civil society could also play a role in pointing out inequalities that might be associated with some climate security policies.
Risks and opportunities of framing climate change as a security issue
What kind of benefits does framing climate change as a security issue actually have as opposed to framing it in other ways?
-This is a tricky question because whenever something is framed as a ‘security issue’ it calls for some immediate political action where any decisions can be justified without due democratic processes, explains Emma.
In this way, it can be risky to frame climate change as a security issue only (sometimes referred to as the securitization of climate change). At the same time, there are some positives to this framing as inevitably, climate change is a risk to society; if it continues unhindered or at the pace it is going at now, there will be some security impacts. This is why it is important to have some understanding of climate security in order to prepare for those impacts.
-The earlier we prepare, the better we will be able to deal with those impacts.
The tendency to frame climate change as a security issue is at least partly due to pressure on politics to take urgent climate action. This can be seen in the media where political leaders refer to climate change as a security threat. There should be a focus on the possible actions that can come from this framing. If you only frame climate change as a security threat and do nothing else about it, that becomes a problem in itself. Emma says that although her work in a sense promotes this type of framing, she has also been trying to underline the negative aspects of the security framing.
Given our discussions about the cascading and transitional impacts due to climate change, we asked Emma what role civil society and academia could play in addressing this. She says that civil society could definitely play a role in communicating about climate change. This is especially true if the dissatisfaction is about climate policy measures or measures to mitigate climate change that have a direct impact on people’s lives, for example increasing fuel prices. Here, civil society could have a role in communicating why something of this nature is happening and also perhaps act as an intermediary between the government, politicians, and the grassroots individuals. However, it shouldn’t be only the responsibility of civil society groups to communicate and reason about climate change with people, she says. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the government and the political leaders to do this sort of unsatisfactory part of climate policy. Civil society can be an aid.
Academia, on the other hand, can definitely contribute through their research. Some researchers, Emma says, are also part-time activists and take a stand on issues. This is, however, not for everyone. But she does think that there should be more conversations between researchers and civil society as both have knowledge on these issues that others don’t have and can learn from each other. It can be through informal ways and doesn’t have to be through publications. Academics could also have more active contact with civil society that can be facilitated through an initiative like Safer Climate.
Emma emphasizes the meaning of active communication within and across groups. For this, there would be a need to have informal meetings to discuss what could be done next. She also refers to the initial meeting of the Safer Climate organised in May 2022 as having brought out good ideas for the next steps. For her personally, it would be interesting to have some foresight or preparedness workshop where we could discuss scenarios or cases and maybe come up with some measures or policy recommendations.
WHAT IS CLIMATE SECURITY?
Climate security refers to the challenges, threats, or risks that climate change has on the security of societies and on individuals or countries. The security consequences of climate change can be broadly categorized into direct, cascading (indirect) and transition impacts.
Direct security risks refer to the immediate risks caused by the changing nature of natural hazards. These include the risks to critical infrastructure and energy systems, the logistics system, health and food security.
Indirect [cascading] security risks relate to the potential economic, political and geopolitical impacts of climate change. Climate change can affect global migration, increase conflict risk, and cause social tensions and inequality.
Transition risks are related to economic and technological changes in energy transition, as well as political and geopolitical tensions and social problems caused by climate change mitigation policies. Reducing the use of fossil fuels can result in domestic and foreign policy tensions and economic pressure especially in locations dependent on fossil fuels. Political tension can also increase the risks associated with hybrid and information warfare.
Sources
CLIMATE CHANGE AND FINNISH COMPREHENSIVE SECURITY INSIGHTS INTO ENHANCED PREPAREDNESS - FIIA Briefing Paper (2021)
Climate Security and Finland– A Review on Security Implications of Climate Change from the Finnish Perspective - Finnish Meteorological Institute (2021)