Peacekeeping in the Anthropocene: Changing Law for a Changing Climate

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Christina Binder
• Subject Area: Public Law
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 552033710

Peace-CLaCC explores how the effects of climate change – the core non-traditional security challenge of the 21st century – change the deployment and operation of international and regional peacekeeping operations (PKOs). There is scattered institutional practice by a wide variety of organizations including the United Nations (UN) on this topic, matched by a patchwork of legal and policy instruments on how climate change-related effects might or must be considered by PKOs. So far, there has been no comprehensive legal analysis on what legal obligations arise in the context of PKOs through ‘a changing climate’. Peace-CLaCC – on the basis of three case scenarios – will investigate how PKOs align with general mitigation and adaptation obligations arising under international (climate change and/or security) law and assess which legal obligations this evokes. It will particularly focus on the extent to which existing international obligations can be used to support and enhance the role of PKOs in addressing the challenges posed by climate change. Through this, the project will identify areas where additional obligations or institutional frameworks may be needed to address emerging threats and challenges to international peace and security caused by climate change.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants