“REC Albania addressed the 30th OSCE Economic and Environmental Forum”

The Concluding Meeting of the 30th OSCE Economic and Environmental Forum is held from 8 to 9 September in Prague. The theme for this year’s ongoing Economic and Environmental Forum was “Promoting security and stability in the OSCE area through sustainable economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic”. The debate addressed specific topics such as the promotion of sustainable economic recovery from the pandemic, green growth, innovation for sustainable economic recovery, greening the economy and the role of the energy sector.

The meeting was opened by OSCE Chairman-in-Office and Foreign Minister of Poland Zbigniew Rau, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Czech Republic Jan Lipavský, and OSCE Secretary General Helga Maria Schmid.

The Side Event on “Security Implications of Climate Change in South-Eastern Europe, Contributions to the region’s climate resilience by the OSCE as well as by Czechia” was organized by the Delegation of the Czech Republic to the OSCE. The Director of REC Albania, Mr. Mihallaq Qirjo contributed as guest speaker about the “Vulnerability and Security Implications of Climate Change in South-Eastern Europe”.

Mr. Qirjo highlighted the major consequences of Climate Change in Western Balkans, where the fragile economies and low level of preparedness make those countries more fragile and exposed to impacts on economy, health and natural resources. He focused on the two major challenges identified in the region: forest depletion and air quality.

While climate change does not directly cause conflicts, it has a number of indirect implications on security, which is why climate change and its implications for security have been increasingly discussed at the international level. The adoption of the OSCE Ministerial Council Decision No. 3/21 “Strengthening Co-operation to Address the Challenges Caused by Climate Change” in 2021 in Stockholm has been a major breakthrough for the OSCE and the international community in recognizing this link between climate and security and need to mitigate its worst effects.

The topic of disaster risk reduction (DRR) and resilience in the context of fragility and climate change is one of the key priorities for the Czech EU Presidency within the humanitarian-development-peace nexus, based on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Paris Agreement, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

The Economic and Environmental Forum enables political dialogue among the 57 OSCE participating States on key economic and environmental issues related to security and gathers representatives from governments, state institutions, international organizations, the business sector, civil society and academia.