Human security and energy transition in NATO’s South

• NDC Policy Brief 05-2023: Human security and energy transition in NATO’s South , by Eckart Woertz*

Energy lies at the heart of human security and
development challenges facing the arid and
energy rich Middle East and North Africa
(MENA) region. While risks such as water shortages, food insecurity, political instability and forced
migration have received ample attention from analysts, energy transitions have comparatively received
less scrutiny. Energy transitions present more development opportunities than risks for external actors,
and these risks transcend borders by entangling the
MENA within a broader geography that ultimately
affects European security. Within this entanglement
lie opportunities that could be harnessed to improve
cooperation, sustainability and human security for
NATO and Partners in the MENA.

Framing energy and climate change as security
threats has a long history in international cooperation
with the MENA. As NATO responds to the war in
Ukraine and rethinks its crisis management tools, raising awareness of new risks while grasping potential
opportunities becomes all the more important given
the return of strategic competition to the MENA. The
implementation of the 2022 Strategic Concept and its
focus on “resilience” requires Allies to go beyond traditional securitized views of development. This Policy
Brief highlights two trends that will likely impact energy transitions in the MENA for the coming years:
transnational critical infrastructure; and the development of new hydrocarbon and alternative energy resources. The first will influence regional geopolitics
while the second will impact energy security in the
MENA and Europe. Concerning energy resources,
we examine two developments: growing supplies of
natural gas and green hydrogen – a zero emissions process of generating hydrogen from water. Cooperation with MENA countries on energy transitions
can enhance European security by contributing to socio-economic development in MENA countries. To
this end, NATO can play a role in tandem with the EU and individual Allies.

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