CLICO
CLICO is a three year research project funded by the European
Commission. It takes an innovative multidisciplinary approach to fill knowledge
gaps over the social dimensions of climate change.
In particular, the project is investigating
whether hydro-climatic hazards such as droughts and floods exacerbate social tensions,
intra- and inter-state conflicts in the Mediterranean, Middle East and Sahel, or if they provide a catalyst for cooperation and
peace.
Eleven cases of hydro-conflicts will be studied
ranging from Niger, Sudan, the Jordan
and Nile basins to Cyprus, Italy
and the Sinai desert. A large dataset – the first of its kind – of
hydro-conflicts in the Mediterranean, Middle East and Sahel
will be regressed against climatic, hydrological and socio-economic variables.
Time span
3 years: 1 January 2010 – 31 December 2012
Key goals
CLICO pursues the following two objectives:
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To understand
and model the relationships
between hydro-climatic hazards, climate change vulnerability, human security
and conflict, on the basis of theoretically-informed, comparative empirical
research.
-
To
map international and
national policies for
security and adaptation in water resources and hazard management, and
develop a
policy model for security against hydro-climatic hazards
(“hydro-security”) in
the region, applicable to the UN, EU and national states.
The role of UNU-EHS in CLICO
Within the CLICO project UNU-EHS main tasks are,
amongst others, to participate in the creation of the CLICO conceptual
framework and the protocol for case studies that will frame case-study research
design as well as in the development of an integrated theory on threats to
security from climate change impacts on hydrological systems. In that regard
UNU-EHS will also conduct two in-depth field research-based hydro-conflict case
studies, one in Egypt,
focusing on the Metropolitan Region of Alexandria and another one in Tahoua Region of Niger.
Research focuses on the linkages between water
resources degradation and/or pressures, environmental and social vulnerability
and, migration, all potentially leading to social tensions and (violent) conflicts.
Moreover formal and informal structures of water governance in the case study
areas will be analysed and assessed with particular focus on their adaptive
capacity to the impacts of climate change and their dispute settlement
mechanisms and against national and international legal frameworks.
Project outcomes
Visit the download area to access all material published during the project!
