Climate Change and Security at Yale University
“Are conventional notions of national security broad enough to accommodate the evolving global risks and trends?”
“Will Americans support more frequent military interventions across conflict ridden and resource-stressed regions?”
These were just a few of the questions fielded by former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense, Ms.Sherri Goodman and retired Commander, and Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Climate and Security, Oliver Barrett, at a Yale University-hosted event on 28 March. The event entitled ‘Decoding Climate Risk’ was the latest expert and distinguished speaker event hosted by Yale and focused on “decoding” the reasons why the Pentagon treats climate change as a strategic risk requiring immediate action. (more…)
New U.S. Assessment on Climate and Health: More Research Needed on Security Implications
Philippine and U.S. service members learn to identify heat stroke (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Abbey M. Perria)
By Christine Parthemore, Executive Director, The Center for Climate and Security
This week, the U.S. Global Change Research Program released an extensive new volume on the health impacts of climate change. The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States: A Scientific Assessment is focused on the American population in general, but just looking at the section titles it is easy to see how many of the specific impacts could require special attention for the security forces based in the United States. Climate change effects that could bring new challenges to the health of U.S. military personnel, their families, and their communities — for example, via temperature-related illness, new patterns of vector-borne diseases, and air and water quality changes — receive extensive treatment. While security issues are not the focus of this assessment, it makes clear that a natural progression would be to analyze potential impacts specifically for U.S. armed forces and their work, including training conditions and force health protection needs.
**UPDATE**
A text box in chapter 9 of the assessment highlights these types of challenges for the U.S. armed forces, noting that “key research questions remain” but that the Department of Defense is on the case. Indeed, a natural progression of this extensive assessment will be to analyze potential impacts specifically for U.S. armed forces and their work, including training conditions and force health protection needs.
Naval Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Response Week
At the request of the government of the Philippines, USS Ronald Reagan & elements of her Carrier Strike Group provided humanitarian assistance/ disaster response in the wake of Typhoon Fengshen. U.S. Navy photo by Spike Call
Last week was Naval Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief (HA/DR) week at the Center for International Maritime Security (CIMSEC). CIMSEC featured a variety of different articles from experts grappling with the complexity of managing all of the moving parts related to HA/DR missions. A climate-changing world is adding another layer of stress and complexity to these missions, as well as adding incentives to continue to improve prevention, preparedness and response coordination between civilian and military counterparts. Below is a list of articles published by CIMSEC. Worth a read. (more…)