The recent global climate change discourse is a prominent example of a securitization of environmental
issues. While the problem is often framed in the language of existentialism, crisis or even apocalypse, climate
discourses rarely result in exceptional or extraordinary measures, but rather put forth a governmental
scheme of piecemeal and technocratic solutions often associated with risk management. This article argues
that this seeming paradox is no accident but follows from a politics of apocalypse that combines two logics
– those of security and risk – which in critical security studies are often treated as two different animals.
Drawing on the hegemony theory of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, however, this article shows
that the two are inherently connected. In the same way as the Christian pastorate could not do without
apocalyptic imageries, today’s micro-politics of risk depends on a series of macro-securitizations that
enable and legitimize the governmental machinery. This claim is backed up by an inquiry into current global
discourses of global climate change regarding mitigation, adaptation and security implications. Although
these discourses are often framed through the use of apocalyptic images, they rarely result in exceptional
or extraordinary measures, but rather advance a governmental scheme of risk management. Tracing the
relationship between security and risk in these discourses, we use the case of climate change to highlight
the relevance of our theoretical argument.
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Recent rapid climatic changes are associated with dramatic changes in phenology of plants and animals, with optimal timing of reproduction advancing considerably in the northern hemisphere. Some species may not have advanced their timing of breeding suffi- ciently to continue reproducing optimally relative to the occur- rence of peak food availability, thus becoming mismatched com- pared with their food sources. The degree of mismatch may differ among species, and species with greater mismatch may be char- acterized by declining populations. Here we relate changes in spring migration timing by 100 European bird species since 1960, considered as an index of the phenological response of bird species to recent climate change, to their population trends. Species that declined in the period 1990–2000 did not advance their spring migration, whereas those with stable or increasing populations advanced their migration considerably. On the other hand, popu- lation trends during 1970–1990 were predicted by breeding hab- itat type, northernmost breeding latitude, and winter range (with species of agricultural habitat, breeding at northern latitudes, and wintering in Africa showing an unfavorable conservation status), but not by change in migration timing. The association between population trend in 1990 –2000 and change in migration phenology was not confounded by any of the previously identified predictors of population trends in birds, or by similarity in phenotype among taxa due to common descent. Our findings imply that ecological factors affecting population trends can change over time and suggest that ongoing climatic changes will increasingly threaten vulnerable migratory bird species, augmenting their extinction risk.
conservation extinction risk migration phenology population trends
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