The Mercator Foundation invited AEGEE München to a discussion about „Climate, development and migration as a challenge of international politics“. Among the speakers were Madeleine Albright (former United States Secretary of State) and Julianne Smith (former Principal Director for European and NATO Policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense in the Pentagon). In her opening remarks, Madeleine Albright addressed the conflict in the Ukraine calling it the biggest crisis since WWII. Among the speakers, there was an agreement that climate change is better acknowledged than a few years ago. When evaluating the effects of climate change, they were not modest with superlatives. Up to date structures to tackle catastrophes were discussed and the traditional importance of the military in this matter was questioned. Mrs. Albright compared contemporary conflict management to a match of billard: Players are faced with interdependent conflicts and continuosly changing situations. Other than chess, interaction is multilateral. The dilemma between smaller countries suffering from climate change and powerful causers was recognized. According to Mrs. Albright, the leadership claim in mastering the „climate crisis“ falls to the United States and Europe.
