The Foreign Service Journal, February 2008

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 8 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 15 limate change is no longer just an environmental issue, but one of the greatest eco- nomic, political and security challenges of the 21st century. And it will be one of the most complicated and compelling diplomatic challenges as well. Increasingly, climate change is becoming a matter of life and death — not just for animals and plants, but for people; and not some time in this century, but today. F O C U S O N C L I M AT E C H A N G E A C ALL TO A CTION P REPARING FOR AND ADAPTING TO A CHANGING CLIMATE WILL BE ONE OF THE CENTRAL TASKS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS FOR THE REST OF THIS CENTURY . B Y T IMOTHY E. W IRTH C Sandra Pirie-St. Amour