Climate Security and Geostrategic Competition in the Pacific
The Australian Embassy Vienna, in collaboration with the Climate Change Centre Austria (CCCA) and the Austrian-South Pacific Society (OSPG), is hosting a public lecture by Salā Dr George Carter, Head of the Department of Pacific Affairs and Director of the Pacific Institute at the Australian National University (ANU). In this lecture Dr Carter will examine how climate change is reshaping regional security through its intersection with international politics and strategic rivalry. He will explore how climate impacts - such as rising sea levels and intensified disasters - are not only humanitarian challenges but also drivers of competition, contrasting a traditional security narrative centred on great powers with a Pacific‑led, comprehensive climate‑security approach. As strategic tensions between China and the United States intensify, Dr Carter will highlight how Pacific island countries are navigating these dynamics, increasingly leveraging climate action as a tool to assert agency, protect sovereignty, and shape regional cooperation.Dr Carter…