In recent years, climate change has increasingly come to the forefront of public discourse and has climbed policy agendas across the globe. Yet, its direct impact and implications for the security sector remain a relatively novel area of policy-oriented research, expanding the scope of defence and security policy beyond traditional military operations.

Climate-related risks not only pose new challenges but also aggravate existing threats to security. They can change the dynamics and response strategies in existing conflicts or lead to breakouts of instability, especially in regions marked by significant diversity, latent insurgency and competing geopolitical forces. Southeastern Europe (SEE) is one such region often described as the contact point between East and West, North and South. It also serves as a gateway to Europe from regions such as North Africa and the Middle East. Furthermore, its geopolitical significance has turned it into the playground of global competition where the transatlantic activity of the European Union (EU) and NATO meets the economic interests as well as security aspirations of Russia, and increasingly China.