DASD Caroline Baxter On Integrating Climate Change into Professional Military Education
On January 24, 2024, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (DASD) for Force Education and Training Caroline Baxter spoke to attendees of the conference “Integrating Climate Change into Professional Military Education” co-hosted by the International Military Council on Climate and Security (IMCCS) and the Swedish Defence University.
DASD Baxter’s remarks are published below with permission from the U.S. Department of Defense. You can read more about the conference and find follow-up resources on gaming, training, and curriculum development in the full conference report.
Introduction
Thank you, Erin, and thanks to the International Military Council on Climate & Security and the Swedish Defence University organizers for inviting me to speak today. I also want to express my gratitude to you for allowing me to give these remarks virtually. This topic is incredibly important to the Department of Defense, and I regret that I could not join you in Stockholm for this event.
My portfolio includes military training and exercises, defense language programs, career broadening opportunities like fellowships, and two of the topics for which we are here to discuss today—professional military education and climate literacy. I chair the Department’s Climate Literacy SubWorking Group, which is tasked with integrating climate considerations into DoD education and training programs. Professional military education—or PME—has been a cornerstone of our climate literacy work. I will talk more about our progress in this area a bit later, and share some best practices and lessons learned from our work.
Supporting Sustainable Security in a Hot and Hungry World
Policymakers are increasingly acknowledging the impact of transnational challenges, such as food and climate issues, on driving conflicts. The global famine has reached unprecedented levels, highlighting the intricate connections between hunger, climate change, and global security. The escalating violence in Africa, the Middle East, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, coupled with the visible impact of climate change, exacerbates global food insecurity.
Despite the challenges, food presents an opportunity for multilateral cooperation. The process of mainstreaming food security into multilateral processes has begun, but significant gaps remain, particularly in the limited allocation of climate finance to green transitions in food systems.
This paper emphasizes the long-term and systemic nature of food security challenges, driven by development, security, governance, and environmental factors. Conflict can worsen hunger, and food insecurity can increase security risks, particularly for vulnerable populations. In addition, terrorist organizations may use food as a means of recruitment and control.
Therefore, it is important to integrate food security into interventions and climate finance efforts, and to have a comprehensive understanding of the interplay between food security, climate risks, political instability, and conflict. To move forward, it is important to recognize food as a predictive tool, shift away from donor-driven approaches, and discourage policy silos in order to address the intersection of hunger, climate, and security.