The GCSP explores the new frontiers of peace and diplomacy — rethinking security in the face of climate instability

At a time when climate-related disasters are intensifying, diplomacy and defence are redefining their priorities. In Paris, the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) brought together experts and strategists to reflect on how states can respond to a world made increasingly unstable by climate change. Between foresight, cooperation and environmental diplomacy, a global conversation is taking shape. As climate disruption establishes itself as one of the major challenges of the 21st century, diplomats, experts and military officials gathered at the International House of the Cité Internationale Universitaire in Paris to reflect on a question that has become central: how can diplomacy and defence adapt to climate instability?

Climate, a new geopolitical issue

From rising sea levels to desertification, and extreme weather events, participants stressed that climate is no longer merely an environmental issue — it is redefining the very boundaries of international security. States, confronted with humanitarian and migratory crises amplified by global warming, must now integrate the climate variable into their defence doctrines and diplomatic strategies. Under the moderation of Céline Giuliani, global-governance strategist, and the warm welcome of Isabelle Gillet, Head of the GCSP Alumni Office, the panel explored new avenues of cross-sector cooperation to strengthen collective resilience.

The first session, entitled “Integrating climate vulnerability into national security”, enabled Nestor Alfonzo Santamaria, Senior Adviser at the OECD, to open the debate on the need to integrate climate foresight into national and multilateral strategies. “Climate change is redrawing geopolitical balances,” he emphasised, calling for anticipatory governance capable of preventing crises before they become security threats. Governance models must, in his view, include innovative diplomatic tools to address climate-related risks, whether economic, social or military. The objective: to prevent environmental vulnerability from turning into a factor of political instability.

During the second session, “Defence in the face of climate upheaval”, Bastien Alex, Climate Adviser to a divisional general of the French armed forces, detailed the adaptations already under way within the military. Between emergency interventions during disasters, humanitarian assistance and preparation for climate-related migration, the armed forces are rethinking their role in a world subjected to repeated ecological shocks. Military infrastructure, often located in coastal or desert areas, is on the frontline of climate impacts: rising sea levels, heatwaves, extreme weather events. This vulnerability requires new cooperation between ministries, regions and international partners. Bastien Alex also stressed the emergence of a “climate-defence diplomacy”, built on joint exercises, humanitarian missions and shared resilience programmes. Climate-focused cooperation is thus becoming a vehicle for closer ties between states and armed forces.

The third and final session, “Sand, Water and Peace: Regional Cooperation in the Middle East”, saw the Secretary-General of the Swiss-MENA Chamber of Commerce, Shirin Golkar, address the environmental stress factors weakening the region: water scarcity, drying of wetlands, sand and dust storms. She called for a genuine “diplomacy of sand and dust” to promote dialogue between states facing common threats. Cross-border conflicts over water represent, she argued, the next potential flashpoints of political tension if no regional cooperation is established. Yet these same tensions could become levers for dialogue, provided that regional coalitions are built between diplomacy, defence and economic actors to develop early warning systems and equitable resource-sharing mechanisms.

Manon Frezouls, Head of Conferences and Institutional Relations at the Academy of Young Negotiators, praised the sustained attention of an audience aware of global challenges. The event highlighted the mission of the GCSP: to train, connect and inspire actors of peace in a changing world. Founded in 1995 by the Swiss government within the framework of NATO’s Partnership for Peace, the GCSP follows in the legacy of the historic 1985 Geneva Summit between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, where the need to strengthen international expertise in security and disarmament was emphasised. Today, supported by 55 member states, the Centre pursues its mission from the Maison de la Paix in Geneva, developing training and research programmes to anticipate emerging challenges.

Towards a diplomacy of the future

In a world marked by climate, energy and social crises, 21st-century diplomacy must be preventive, inclusive and interdisciplinary. The 2025 Paris Peace Forum, like the GCSP, embodies this vision of global cooperation in which climate becomes a common language rather than a source of division. From Geneva to Paris, a conviction is emerging: the peace of tomorrow will also be built through the way humanity learns to engage in dialogue with the planet.