Who we are

 

What is Weathering Risk?  

In a world facing complex risks compounded by climate change, Weathering Risk is a multilateral initiative that offers tailored analysis and tools to understand climate-related risks to human security and build sustainable peace.

Weathering Risk is led by an interdisciplinary project team at adelphi and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). It is supported by a broad range of international partner organisations and donor governments, ensuring that our unique effort brings the climate security community together. Partnerships with world-leading research and policy organisations ensure that the best possible inputs inform the initiative’s work. Weathering Risk is guided by a Strategic Advisory Board of prominent global experts from across the international climate, development and security communities.

Background: 

Weathering Risk harks back to the German G7 Presidency of 2015. The key recommendation of the 2015 G7 mandated report ‘A New Climate for Peace’ called for ‘more and better climate security risk analysis’. In response, and building on the Berlin Call for Action launched at the Berlin Climate and Security Conference in June 2019, Weathering Risk addresses the gaps in our understanding of climate change impacts on peace and security.

Read more about how we work here

It is absolutely critical that the conversation is not Western dominated. …Weathering Risk includes the work of researchers from all around the world, including from non-northern countries and we need to ensure that those voices are heard

Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP

 

 

 

 

Meet Our Team

Weathering Risk is led by an interdisciplinary team from adelphi and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK).

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© Test
Contact person

Janani Vivekananda

Weathering Risk project co-lead and head of the Climate Diplomacy and Security programme at adelphi. Full biography & contact information.

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Contact person

Barbora Sedova

Weathering Risk project co-lead and co-lead of the FutureLab - Security, Ethnic Conflicts and Migration at PIK. Full biography & contact information

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Project Team

Adrien Detges

Senior Advisor at adelphi. Focuses on climate change impacts and their relevance to foreign, security and development policy. 

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Project Team

Benjamin Pohl

Co-head of the Climate Diplomacy and Security programme at adelphi. Works on the interface of environmental change, foreign policy, peacebuilding and global sustainable development.

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© Klemens Karow
Project Team

Jacob Schewe

Senior Researcher at PIK. Leads the working group “Impacts of climate change on human population dynamics”, founder and coordinator of the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISIMIP).

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Project Team

Lisa Binder

Research Analyst at PIK. Focuses on the interplay between climate change impacts and conflicts of different types.

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Project Team

Lukas Rüttinger

Senior Advisor at adelphi, working at the intersection of environment, development, foreign and security policy.

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Project Team

Sidney Michelini

PhD student at PIK with the FutureLab - Security, Ethnic Conflicts and Migration. Focuses on how climate, climate shocks, and climate change impact conflicts of different types.

Headshot of Rania Zaatour
Project Team

Rania Zaatour

Postdoctoral Researcher at PIK's FutureLab - Security, Ethnic Conflicts and Migration. Works on modeling climate impacts on food prices and conflict risks. 

Headshot of Lucas Destrijcker
Project Team

Lucas Destrijcker

Advisor in the Climate Diplomacy and Security Programme at adelphi, focusing on how environmental impacts in times of climate change affect peace and security, particularly in conflict-affected settings and fragile states.

Headshot of Alina Viehoff
Project Team

Alina Viehoff

Consultant at adelphi, focusing on the nexus between climate change, peace and security as well as on finding multilateral solutions to climate-related transboundary challenges.

Emma Whitaker
Project Team

Emma Whitaker

Senior Advisor at adelphi with extensive experience as a peace building practitioner, focusing on the nexus of climate change, conflict, fragility, vulnerable populations and the environment. 

Alexandra Steinkraus
Project Team

Alexandra Steinkraus

Analyst at adelphi, focusing on how to better communicate the impacts of climate change on international peace and security through diplomacy and development approaches that drive action and understanding.

Katarina Schulz
© adelphi
Project Team

Katarina Schulz

Consultant in the field of diplomacy and security, focusing on the interface between climate foreign policy, global sustainable development and peacekeeping.

Hector Camilo Morales Munoz
Project Team

Hector Camilo Morales Munoz

Senior Advisor at adelphi focusing on how addressing environmental and climate security challenges can be an opportunity to enable cooperation and build peace.

Spencer McMurray 2
Project Team

Spencer McMurray

Consultant and conflict resolution practitioner specialising in stabilisation and peacebuilding, with a focus on better articulating the links between climate change, fragility, instability and conflict, and identifying their collective impact and challenges on stability in communities and countries.

 

 

 

 

Strategic Advisory Board

Weathering Risk is guided by a multilateral Strategic Advisory Board of leading figures in development, environmental, foreign and security policy. 

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Strategic Advisory Board

Adriana Abdenur

Co-founder and Executive Director of Plataforma CIPÓ, dedicated to climate peacebuilding and sustainable development in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Inger Andersen
Strategic Advisory Board

Inger Andersen

Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. 

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Strategic Advisory Board

Benedetta Berti

Head of Policy Planning in the Office of the Secretary General at NATO and Associate Researcher at the Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy (Vrije Universiteit Brussel). Focuses on armed groups, internal wars, and protection of civilians.

Portrait of Comfort Ero
Strategic Advisory Board

Comfort Ero

President and CEO of the International Crisis Group. Previously, she was Africa Program Director and Interim Vice President. Her areas of expertise include Conflict prevention, mediation, peacekeeping and transitional justice.

Shenggen Fan
Strategic Advisory Board

Shenggen Fan

CGIAR System Board Member and Chair Professor at the College of Economics and Management at China Agricultural University in Beijing. From 2009-2019 he served as the Director General of the International Food Policy Research Institute.

Saleemul Huq
Strategic Advisory Board

Saleemul Huq

Director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development and Professor at the Independent University Bangladesh. Lead author of the third, fourth and fifth assessment reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

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© MSC/Kuhlmann
Strategic Advisory Board

Wolfgang Ischinger

President of the Munich Security Conference Foundation Council. From 2008 to 2022, he was Chairman of the Munich Security Conference. He has held a wide range of diplomatic positions, including State Secretary (Dept. Foreign Minister) and German Ambassador to the United States and the United Kingdom.

Ottilia Anna Maunganidze
Strategic Advisory Board

Ottilia Anna Maunganidze

Head of Special Projects in the Office of the Executive Director at the Institute for Security Studies (South Africa). Her expertise lies in international criminal justice, international human rights law and migration trends and policy.

Tom Middendorp
Strategic Advisory Board

Tom Middendorp

Principal Expert at The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies (HCSS) and Chair of the International Military Council on Climate and Security. Until 2017 he was the Chief of Defense of the Netherlands.

Photo of Federica Mogherini
Strategic Advisory Board

Federica Mogherini

Rector of the College of Europe. She served as High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019.

Coral Pasisi
Strategic Advisory Board

Coral Pasisi

Director of the Sustainable Pacific Consultancy and President of Tofia Niue, a Non-profit Organisation focused on Ocean Sustainable Management. From 2015 to 2019 she was the Regional Advisor on the Pacific to the Green Climate Fund.

Achim Steiner
Strategic Advisory Board

Achim Steiner

Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme. From 2006-2016 he was the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme.

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© OSCE
Strategic Advisory Board

Helga Maria Schmid

Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Prior to her appointment she was Secretary General for the European External Action Service and has held several other prominent diplomatic positions during her career.

 

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