Atlantic dialogues on climate security challenges

The AIR Centre joined leading Atlantic stakeholders today at the VII Atlantic Centre Seminar in Lisbon to address the growing intersection between climate change and security challenges across the Atlantic region.

The seminar, titled "Climate Change and Security Challenges in the Atlantic," brought together experts and policymakers to examine how climate change and extreme weather events are reshaping maritime security, threatening coastal communities, and creating new geopolitical tensions across Atlantic nations.

Following opening remarks by Rear Admiral Nuno de Noronha Bragança, Atlantic Centre Coordinator, and Isabel Ferreira Nunes, Director-General of the National Defence Institute, two panel sessions brought together speakers from across the Atlantic to present the Atlantic Centre’s research on climate change and security challenges. Participants included representatives from the Policy Center for the New South (Morocco), the Gulf of Guinea Maritime Institute (Ghana), Bureau des Études Stratégiques (Cameroon), Norwich University (United States), the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs (France), the Naval Academy of Strategic Studies (Colombia), the University of Lisbon, FLAD, and CCMAR – Centre for Marine Sciences of the Algarve (Portugal).

The Atlantic Centre presented its ongoing research project exploring the multidisciplinary dimensions of climate-related threats, including their impact on international law, maritime security, food security, humanitarian response, and disaster risk management. The initiative aims to produce a comprehensive, policy-oriented report analyzing how climate change is transforming the Atlantic's geopolitical and social landscape.

The seminar highlighted climate change as a whole-of-Atlantic concern that affects nations in complex and interconnected ways. Discussions emphasized the uneven impacts across Atlantic countries and the need for collective, cooperative approaches to address what the concept note described as an avoidable regional divide.

The forthcoming report will reflect diverse perspectives from Atlantic countries while providing actionable recommendations for building collective resilience across the region.

The AIR Centre's participation reinforces its commitment to advancing international dialogue on climate security and contributing to solutions that ensure a stable and prosperous Atlantic community.