Choosing what to read on the beach has been a perennially difficult choice. We are making that choice easier. A range of new volumes, reports, testimonies and concept notes on climate change and security have been released recently, and all of them are worth a read in the sun (apologies to those south of the equator currently experiencing winter). Below is a list of those that came across our desk, and have been printed out for transport to the shoreline.

• Climate Change: A Risk Assessment: On July 13, the UK’s Foreign Commonwealth Office commissioned this independent report authored by a range of military, finance, science and energy experts. It argues that climate change is a risk that should be treated as other risks to national and international security, such as nuclear proliferation and terrorism. Center for Climate and Security staff contributed to Chapter 21, and Dr. Jay Gulledge, author of a section of the report on risk analysis, penned a blog article outlining differing attitudes towards “uncertainty” between governments and the scientific community.

• Climate Change Testimonies before the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security: Yes, we are suggesting you read Congressional testimonies in your leisure time. These are are an especially strong group of testimonies from three Department of Homeland Security officials, and Marc Levy of Columbia University, before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Management Efficiency. The testimonies, submitted for a hearing on July 8, touch on where the U.S. needs to be in order to avoid damage to critical infrastructure, loss of life, and stresses to national security.

• Concept Note: Open Arria-formula meeting on the role of Climate Change as a threat multiplier for Global Security: Adopting a phrase first coined by the CNA Corporation’s Military Advisory Board, the Spanish and Malaysian permanent missions to the UN authored a concept note to drive a June 30 “Arria-formula” discussion at the UN Security Council on climate change “as a threat multiplier” for global security.

• BRIEFER: Climate Change and Vietnamese Fisheries, Opportunities for Conflict Prevention: Published on June 29, Dr. Marcus Dubois King,  Director of the Master of Arts in International Affairs Program (MAIA) at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs, writes about the climate change-fisheries-conflict nexus in the South China Sea, with a focus on Vietnam and its relationship to China and U.S.

• The Longest Conflict: Australia’s Climate Security Challenge: Published on June 22, this volume from Australia’s Centre for Policy Development draws lessons from climate security policies in the US, the UK, interviews with national security and military leaders, and existing analysis. It identifies actions Australia’s defence establishment could take for managing climate security risks. To our Aussie audience: don’t wait until summer to read this.

• A New Climate for Peace: Released on June 19, this volume, commissioned by G7 members and produced by adelphi, International Alert, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the European Union Institute for Security Studies, addresses the intersection of climate change and state fragility. The report makes the case that climate risks should be integrated into the foreign policy priorities of G7 members.

• The SAIS Review of International Affairs: The Era of Man: Environmental Security on a Changing Planet:” This academic volume was published on June 3, and includes articles from a range of experts touching on climate change, state fragility, population, risk assessments, indices and predictive tools, energy security, migration, organized crime and conflict. It includes an article on Syria and Egypt from Center for Climate and Security staff.