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Nordic Council calls for common Nordic disaster response unit

The Nordic Council calls for an investigation into the consequences of the climate crisis on security policy in the Nordic Region. The Council wants, amongst other things, an assessment of the need to strengthen preparedness in the Nordic countries and calls for the establishment of a Nordic disaster response unit.

Apr 11, 2013

The Nordic Council calls for Nordic co-operation on contingency planning to be strengthened by setting up a disaster response unit.

Photographer: Eivind Sætre/norden.org

The Nordic Council will closely examine the Nordic defence and security policies at its meeting in Stockholm on 11 April.

In this context, the Council's Environment Committee calls for a survey of how living conditions and civil security in the Nordic Region are affected by climate change. Specifically, the Council also calls for Nordic co-operation on contingency planning to be strengthened by setting up a disaster response unit.

"Climate change will have an impact on the security situation, here in the Nordic countries too. So we must raise environmental issues in the defence debate too. Together we must look at how we can best prepare ourselves for the future and adapt security and preparedness in the Nordic societies to the new climate", said the Chair of the Nordic Council Environment Committee, Ann-Kristine Johansson, at the Council's debate on defence and security policies on 11 April.

The report will look at how stability in the Nordic adjacent areas will be affected by a four-degree rise in temperature. The Nordic Council also want to investigate the need to strengthen the response capacity and calls for an analysis of possible consequences for migration to the Nordic countries.

Global action plan

As a continuation of the debate on security policy, the Nordic Council calls for the Nordic Council of Ministers - the inter-governmental co-operation body - to prepare a proposal for a global action plan for the stabilisation of CO2 emissions.

"The Nordic countries have always been at the forefront in climate issues, so it is natural for us to work together on proposals for global solutions. The joint competencies in the Nordic countries far exceed what we can achieve individually, so we believe that joint efforts are the obvious way forward", says Ann-Kristine Johansson.

Specifically the report will look at how the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere can be held below or stabilised at 450 ppm (parts per million).

At the moment the level is about 393 ppm - a little bit higher around the Arctic - and it is increasing by 2 ppm annually. 450 ppm is considered the critical level in relation to further acceleration of climate change.

Focus on defence policy

The Nordic Council focused on Nordic defence and security policies at its theme session in Stockholm on 11 April.

Following the theme session the Nordic Council will issue a statement to the governments of the Nordic countries. In this they will emphasise the need to expand the NORDRED co-operation to a greater extent to cover civil security and contingency planning in general.

The NORDRED agreement was entered into in 1989 and formed the first formal framework for co-operation on rescue services between the Nordic countries. The Haga Declaration of 2009 aims at increasing the Nordic countries co-operation to prevent, reduce and manage the consequences of major accidents and disasters.

And in 2011 the Nordic ministers responsible for societal security and preparedness shook hands agreeing to stand by one other in crisis situations. This happened in a joint declaration of solidarity which had already been called for in the Stoltenberg report from 2009. Finally there is collaborative work in Nordefco, especially in materials procurement.

The Nordic defence and foreign ministers also attended the meeting in Stockholm, where they explained the status of co-operation in defence and security policies between the countries. It is now up to them to carry on the work on the basis of the request from the Nordic Council.