ABSTRACT
Today, global climate change (GCC) poses complex challenges to human society and consequently a grave danger to human security in many parts of the world. These grave dangers are challenging state security as well and many parts of the world face alarming climate change challenges for both state and human security. This chapter examines the recognition of the phenomenon of climate change and its environmental impact by the international community. For success to be achieved in global collective strategies on GCC and for the enhancement of human security, it is argued that the traditional notion of state security with its focus on state sovereignty presents a major obstruction. How the challenges of GCC are predominantly framed, whether in terms of state or human security, will greatly impact the likelihood of the success of the strategies of mitigation, adaptation, and capacity building. In light of the differentiation in the framing of the impacts of GCC in terms of security—with human security and state security as alternatives, if not competing, routes—this chapter identifies several prominent concerns facing major national powers in this competition of strategies for addressing GCC.
