ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

Climate Change and International Relations
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technologies will automatically be high, but if recent efforts in tapping shale
oil and gas through fracking seabeds can manage to keep oil prices to acceptable
levels, progress on renewable options may see a downturn. The environmental
penalty of the fracking process is not known, although it is certain to have
adverse environmental effects. And through all the dynamics of international
trade, the global carbon signature must reduce rapidly across the world, to
slow down global warming so as to remain within a 2 o C rise in the temperature
of the atmosphere.
Technologies already exist today to support the economic and
environmental priorities of individual nations. What is needed is the foresight
to balance today’s needs with the ecological imperatives of tomorrow. The
potential consequences of climate change are so significant that it is vital to
appreciate how climate change trends may potentially impact national security,
and what actions must be initiated to prevent major destabilising consequences
of climate change. In the context of national security, stability is an important
precondition to comprehensive security. Maintaining stability within and
among nations is often the primary means of avoiding serious conflicts that
can lead to wars. Conversely, instability in key areas can threaten national,
regional or international security and that is the main threat that uncontrolled
climate change presents. International diplomacy will have to face a whole
new set of challenges related to climate change and will need to be well
informed with latest knowledge.
It is important to acknowledge that technological development need not
be seen as independent from people and should be understood as a sociotechnical
approach in which technological development and human
development are influencing one another and creating opportunities for
cooperation. Hence, for adaptation to global warming, technology solutions
will play a vital role in combating negative consequences. However, the role
of social solutions should not be ignored and substituted in favour of
technological solutions to achieve sustainability and address global climate
change. Society already possesses the mitigation technologies to bring about
substantial emission reductions necessary to freeze CO 2 and GHG emissions
in the immediate future and work for a sustainable future in coming decades.
What is needed is collective resolve to address the problem before the problem
overtakes us.
Fortunately, there is increasing recognition of the role of cooperation in
the application of S&T for worldwide mitigation efforts. Scientific knowledge
and technological innovation is a learning process that is largely achieved