Mason, Michael 
ORCID: 0000-0002-8831-0593
(2014)
Climate insecurity in (post)conflict areas: the biopolitics of United Nations vulnerability assessments.
Geopolitics, 19 (4).
806 - 828.
ISSN 1465-0045
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Abstract
Within the United Nations, the United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Environment Programme and Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs have all highlighted climate risks as relevant to their work in areas affected by conflict, endorsing human security approaches as valid for mapping the relationships between climate stresses and conflict-related harm. While this policy interest has limited operational presence, I discuss salient assessments of climate vulnerability in (post)conflict areas, arguing that these agencies have applied a natural disaster rather than conflict regulation inflection of humanitarian reason. The former entails a biopolitical paradigm of disaster risk reduction, prescribing technical-managerial measures to build the resilience of vulnerable populations. This framing supports a depoliticised stance reflecting UN norms of neutrality and impartiality. I claim that this position nevertheless disregards its own geopolitical conditions and effects, which dilute the scope for international humanitarian law to assign responsibility for conflict-related harm.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Official URL: | http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/fgeo20 |
| Additional Information: | © 2014 Taylor & Francis Group |
| Divisions: | Geography & Environment Grantham Research Institute Middle East Centre |
| Subjects: | G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences |
| Date Deposited: | 18 Jul 2014 14:35 |
| Last Modified: | 25 Sep 2024 23:48 |
| URI: | http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/58021 |
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