
Behind CASCADES
By CASCADES
CASCADES is an EU project that identifies how the risks of climate change to countries, economies and peoples beyond Europe might cascade into Europe. It does so by analysing how these risks interact with major challenges facing European societies. CASCADES is working with a diverse range of stakeholders – both within and outside Europe – to support the design of a coherent European policy framework to address these risks.

Behind CASCADESNov 05, 2022

Climate, peace and security in Africa and the Arab Region: COP27 and beyond
In this episode of Behind CASCADES, Sophie Desmidt of the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) talks to Salma Kadry of the Cairo International Center for Conflict Resolution, Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding (CCCPA) about the intersection of climate, security and gender in the Middle East and Africa.
As we'll hear, it's a complex picture, with risks to human security varying greatly between and within countries, according to the severity of climate impacts faced and the capacity of the state to respond. One commonality, however, is that women and children tend to suffer more than adult men.
Sophie and Salma explore policy responses to these issues and consider the opportunity provided by COP27 to shine a spotlight and advance meaningful solutions.

Revealing Sweden's exposure to trade-related climate risks
In this episode of Behind CASCADES, Alice talks to Frida Lager and Magnus Benzie of the Stockholm Environment Institute about their innovative work on trade-related climate risks, focusing on their case study of Sweden's exposure to the Brazilian soybean supply chain.
As we'll hear, this work has revealed an exposure to transboundary climate risks that policymakers in Sweden would not have detected in the official data - with important implications for the governance of risk, and of adaptation planning.

Cascading climate risks and public health in the Middle East and North Africa
In this episode of Behind CASCADES we hear a conversation, held on Twitter Spaces on World Health Day 2022, about how the cascading risks of climate change will affect public health in the MENA region, drawing on the new CASCADES report, and featuring insights from three experts on different dimensions of climate risk in the region:
- Wim Zwijnenburg, Project Leader in Humanitarian Disarmament, PAX
- Hanaa Almoaibed, Associate Fellow, Middle East and North Africa Programme, Research Fellow at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies
- Omnia El Omrani, Youth Climate Activist, Junior Doctor, Commissioner at the Lancet-Chatham House Commission on Improving Population Health Post-COVID
- Chair: Glada Lahn, Senior Research Fellow at Chatham House
The climate crisis is also a health crisis, and this conversation explores how the impacts of climate change are set to interact with other societal and individual vulnerabilities to negatively affect human health.

Climate change in the Central Sahel: Thinking about the future, planning adaptation
Behind CASCADES is a podcast series introducing you to some of the researchers working on CASCADES.
CASCADES is an EU project that identifies how the risks of climate change to countries, economies and peoples beyond Europe might cascade into Europe. It does so by analysing how these risks interact with major challenges facing European societies. CASCADES is working with a diverse range of stakeholders – both within and outside Europe – to support the design of a coherent European policy framework to address these risks.
In this episode, Pia van Ackern and Dougoukolo Baba Alpha Oumar Ba Konaré talk about their recent work looking at climate change, development and security in the Central Sahel. They tell us about the use and benefit of scenario planning workshops when thinking about climate change and adaptation.
The project has been funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 821010.