Policy and Research Papers

Sierra Leone is facing a range of climate and environmental risks that directly affect human security. Human activities, including environmental crime, are further undermining protective ecosystem services and destroying carbon sinks, contributing to the cycle of degradation and accelerating the effects of climate change. Overall, this stocktaking study has found significant potential for prevention and stabilisation programming to improve service delivery of security institutions with regard to mitigating the impact of climate and environmental risks on communities and the environment, as well as strengthening social cohesion and contributing to sustainable peace. In addition to the more practical recommendations for international partners and the Government of Sierra Leone that are included in the report, several of the conclusions have broader relevance for security sector governance and reform (SSG/R), prevention and stabilisation programming across a range of regional, environmental and security contexts, and will be further explored in the other countries in the stocktaking study.

Sierra Leone is facing a range of climate and environmental risks that directly affect human security. Human activities, including environmental crime, are further undermining protective ecosystem services and destroying carbon sinks, contributing to the cycle of degradation and accelerating the effects of climate change. Overall, this stocktaking study has found significant potential for prevention and stabilisation programming to improve service delivery of security institutions with regard to mitigating the impact of climate and environmental risks on communities and the environment, as well as strengthening social cohesion and contributing to sustainable peace. In addition to the more practical recommendations for international partners and the Government of Sierra Leone that are included in the report, several of the conclusions have broader relevance for security sector governance and reform (SSG/R), prevention and stabilisation programming across a range of regional, environmental and security contexts, and will be further explored in the other countries in the stocktaking study. This is an executive summary of the full report. 

In a changing strategic environment characterized by a trend towards the militarization of security, several countries are keeping their commitment to civilian crisis management and to multilateral police missions in particular. At the European Union (EU) level for example, the 2022 EU Strategic Compass for Security and Defence emphasizes the EU-wide commitment to strengthen
civilian Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) missions and to renew the civilian CSDP Compact.

While demand for officers to participate in missions is rapidly growing, the supply of available officers has stagnated or even declined. Several studies have demonstrated that one of the reasons is that police institutions do not yet fully recognize the internal-external security nexus and fail to fully maximize the benefits of seconding staff to international missions.

The governments of France and the Netherlands have commissioned this study to contribute to the sharing of good practices and experiences, and to initiate further discussions between interested countries.

This report presents a range of good practices employed by states to maximize the benefits of mission participation to police institutions and serve internal security objectives when making officers available. It also aims to inform discussions around ongoing efforts to develop the roadmap towards the Civilian Compact 2.0 by EU Member States (EUMS).

The occupied Palestinian Territory is facing a range of climate and environmental risks which directly affect human security. From rising temperatures and increasing aridity to water scarcity and widespread pollution,the combined effects of climate change and human pressures on the environment are contributing to local tensions and increasing the fragility of both communities and local ecosystems in the West Bank, which was the geographic focus of this study. This is an executive summary of the full report.