Briefing and Infographic: Climate Change Implications for Defence

A short and accessible briefing and infographic on climate change implications for global security has just been released by the Global Military Advisory Council on Climate Change, the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, and the Institute for Environmental Security. Authored by Brigadier General (ret) Wendell Christopher King, Ph.D – Dean of US Army Command and General Staff College – it highlights five key ways in which the effects of climate change threaten global security:

1. Climate change poses an increasing threat to peace and
security in the world…

2. Climate change acts as a ‘threat multiplier’, amplifying
existing vulnerabilities among populations and existing
threats to security, and can indirectly increase risks of violent
conflict…

3. Societies’ responses to climate impacts may exceed the
global or regional capacity to manage those responses
peacefully…

4. Climate change will bring new challenges to states’ ability
to share resources and provide human security…

5. Military forces will be directly affected by climate change…