Panel discussion
Climate change and its consequences on foreign policy
Foreign Minister Heiko Maas exchanges views with MOSAiC expedition leader Markus Rex
[06. July 2021]
What does climate change have to do with foreign policy? Why is the Arctic so important in terms of foreign policy? These questions were the focus of an exchange between Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and Markus Rex, MOSAiC expedition leader and scientist at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI).
On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas first met with Markus Rex on the icebreaker Polarstern which is currently in the shipyard in Bremerhaven. After that, a panel discussion took place at AWI's port warehouse.
Climate change, Heiko Maas stated, alters habitats, causes migration, and is thus a cause of instability. "Therefore, there is a connection between climate and security," the Foreign Minister said. With sea ice disappearing, there will be more sea routes and new trade routes, he said. "This is a very political power issue." Ecological issues, he said, get short shrift. So it is important to clarify whether international goverments are willing to turn scientific findings into real policy. Foreign Minister Maas: "The biggest challenge is to bring countries that are in a system competition together on the climate issue."
For the MOSAiC expedition more than 80 institutes from 20 nations worked together in a research consortium. From autumn 2019 to autumn 2020 the German icebreaker Polarstern driftet across the Arctic Ocean, trapped in the sea ice.
Markus Rex, who led the expedition, emphasized how the Arctic is at a tipping point so that the Arctic sea ice could disappear at all. That is why it is so important to reduce carbon dioxide emissions globally, he said. "Reducing emissions in Germany is not enough. This is a major diplomatic challenge."