CiR2P Option 25 | Apply political incentives
DISCUSSION:
Peace negotiators and those trying to encourage an improvement in country’s behaviour towards their civilian population can sometimes offer political incentives including diplomatic recognition, membership to an international organisation, and military assistance.
Rendering this option climate-relevant could first involve climate-informed peace negotiators and practitioners expanding their mission scope beyond traditional human rights concerns to include climate change. For example, by deploying political incentives to persuade a government to provide enhanced protection services to its population from an occurring or imminent climate-related harm.
The three aforementioned political incentives could also be adjusted to reflect a climate change character in the following ways:
- sketch out pathways for diplomatic recognition based in part on an agreement to cooperate on transnational waterways;
- provide administrative and financial support to support a country’s fully participation in international climate change frameworks (eg assistance with climate impact assessments, greenhouse gas inventories, and UNFCCC and climate finance processes).
- provide military-grade technology, heavy machinery and equipment for natural hazard reduction and disaster recovery.
Sometimes incentives will be enough to secure a civilian protection agreement, but sometimes there will be a need to signal that negative consequences will be applied if wide-scale harm on a population does not cease immediately.