Home » Articles posted by Francesco Femia & Caitlin Werrell (Page 35)
Author Archives: Francesco Femia & Caitlin Werrell
Highlights from the U.S. Navy War College Conference on Climate Change and National Security
By Elsa Barron
On January 9th, climate and security experts, many from the Center on Climate and Security (CCS), virtually convened for a US Naval War College conference, “The National Security Significance of a Changing Climate.” The conference organizer, Dr. Andrea Cameron, highlighted the timeliness of this conversation, as the United States enters an executive transition that will bring a heightened focus on climate change as a serious national security threat. However, even with that prioritization, comprehensively addressing the security implications of climate change will be a hefty task. Keynote speaker, Hon. Alice Hill, Member of the CCS Advisory Board, highlighted that the two largest challenges on this front are a lack of education about climate change and its politicization in the United States (see keynote here). By providing a space for a robust and nonpartisan discussion of climate change and its national security risks, the Naval War College hopes to help address those concerns.
(more…)The Biden Administration & Climate Security: Week One
What a week for climate security! In his inaugural address on Wednesday, President Joe Biden said, “The cry for survival comes from the planet itself,” acknowledged the “climate is in crisis,” and promised “we will be judged…by how we resolve these cascading crises of our era.” Not long after he was sworn in, President Biden signed an Executive Order to rejoin the Paris Agreement–recommendation 1.13 in our Climate Security Plan for America (CSPA). On Thursday morning, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry hit the ground running in a meeting with world leaders, promising “humility and ambition” in tackling the climate crisis.
This week, the Senate also held hearings on key national security and cabinet nominees–many of whom recognized climate risks in their opening remarks. Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Avril Haines called climate change a “critical transnational threat,” while Secretary of State-Designate Antony Blinken and Secretary of the Treasury-Designate Janet Yellen both termed the threat “existential.” Homeland Security Secretary-Designate Alejandro Mayorkas noted his agency’s role in tackling “longer-term threats like climate change”, stating that being “prepared for and resilient to natural disasters” requires work with state, local, tribal and territorial governments. Selecting cabinet officials who will put climate change front and center in national security discussions is exactly what we called for in the CSPA first pillar: Demonstrate Leadership.
(more…)Sherri Goodman on the Climatization of Security for the Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies
By Mackenzie Allen
In early December 2020, Sherri Goodman spoke with Bangladeshi retired Major General Munir Muniruzzaman about climate security in South East Asia and the United States. Goodman discussed mainstreaming climate change in foreign policy and national security decision-making as part of the Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS) virtual ‘Strategic Conversation’ discussion program.
Sherri Goodman currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Council on Strategic Risks and is a Senior Strategist for its Center for Climate and Security. General Muniruzzaman is the President of the BIPSS and Chairman of the Global Military Advisory Council on Climate Change.
(more…)EVENT: Unprecedented Foresight: Opportunities to Improve Climate Security Risk Assessments in the Biden Administration – Jan 28
The second panel in our series, Planning for the First 100 Days and Beyond
Date: January 28, 2021 2-3:30 pm EST
Update (1/28/2021): See a recording of the virtual event below.
This virtual event hosted by the Center for Climate and Security (CCS), an institute of the Council on Strategic Risks, is the second in our series looking at actions the Biden Administration can take on climate security in its first 100 days and beyond. This panel will explore opportunities to leverage unprecedented foresight capabilities to assess climate security risks. Panelists will discuss how the U.S. government can better integrate climate models and projections and strengthen the collection and dissemination of relevant data in order to conduct increasingly robust and actionable assessments of climate risks, including recommendations in the Climate Security Plan for America – published by CCS and endorsed by dozens of military, foreign policy and intelligence experts, including eight retired four-star generals and admirals.
(more…)