Conflict, climate change and the need for safe spaces: the interlocking problems that urgently need joined up solutions.

Abstract

At the time of writing, and with Bakhmut and Khartoum on fire, it was made public by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) that Europe saw its steepest year-on-year increase in military expenditure for at least 30 years and that global military expenditure had reached a new high (SIPRI 2023). There are of course numerous possible explanations for this with the ongoing war in Ukraine being the first and foremost. On a brighter note, Saudi Arabia and Iran have agreed to resume ties after seven years of tension, agreeing to reopen their respective embassies within the next two months (Nereim 2023). This is a much-needed glimmer of hope that will hopefully further the cause of peace in Yemen where Saudi Arabia and Iran support opposing sides. But the fact that rising military expenditures are explainable does not of course make them acceptable. An end to the Ukraine war seems a distant possibility. In spite of all the military expenditure, a military ‘solution’ appears out of sight and proposals for negotiations are not taken seriously. Formerly neutral countries Finland and Sweden have joined NATO or want to join, respectively. The minimal 2% national defence budget NATO demands of its members is rarely discussed anymore, whereas before few countries reached it (House of Commons Library 2022). All these recently manufactured weapons pollute and destroy the earth and its inhabitants literally and psychologically. And when the war is over, the new weapon technology will still be there, and many of the old weapons will remain. Trying to reach an end to the war in Ukraine with military means, which could happen, would set a dangerous precedent in relation to future resolutions. If proposals to resolve the situation peacefully are not taken seriously, militarism will only result in even more militarism, resulting in a growing number of refugees and IDPs and an increased lack of safe spaces: real safe spaces – territorial, physical and psychosocial. The rise in military expenditure, which is happening at the same time as global calls to combat climate change become ever more urgent, is an example of the interlocking problems addressed in this issue, which starts with a letter from the IPPNW-Europe meeting in Hamburg in January this year. Remarkable is that one of the most worrying issues discussed at MEDICINE, CONFLICT AND SURVIVAL 2023, VOL. 39, NO. 2, 111–113 https://doi.org/10.1080/13623699.2023.2216486