Home » Articles posted by Caitlin Werrell and Francesco Femia (Page 20)
Author Archives: Caitlin Werrell and Francesco Femia
Call for Proposals: Pentagon’s Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program
By Marc Kodack,
The Department of Defense funds the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP). SERDP is DoD’s environmental science and technology program, planned and executed in partnership with the Department of Energy (DoE) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It “invests across a broad spectrum of basic and applied research, as well as advanced development,” and has commissioned a number of climate change and security studies, including on sea level rise (see here, for example). SERDP releases an annual solicitation requesting proposals from interested federal agencies, academia, and industry to address statements of needs (SON) in one or more of SERDP’s five program areas. The Fiscal Year 2021 solicitation is now available. (more…)
Policy Brief: Climate-Related Security Risks and Peacebuilding in Somalia
This article was first published by SIPRI on 23 October 2019, and on the Planetary Security
Initiative website here.
Authors: Karolina Eklöw and Dr Florian Krampe
Stockholm, October 23, 2019 – Climate change poses serious challenges to current and future peacebuilding missions, according to a new report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) which studies the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM). Climate change amplifies existing challenges and strengthens radical groups. At the same time, climate change forces missions to think out of the box with UNSOM proving to be an encouraging example. (more…)
U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Warns of Climate Change Impact on Operations
By Marc Kodack
The U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) has published a new pamphlet, titled “The Operational Environment and the Changing Character of Warfare,” which warns of significant climate change-driven changes to the U.S. military’s operational environment. The pamphlet adds to growing Army concerns about climate change, which we recently saw in very stark words from an Army War College report which stated that “the Department of Defense is precariously underprepared for the national security implications of climate change-induced global security challenges.” (more…)
State Department Ignores Climate Change in the Indo-Pacific Region
By Marc Kodack
The U.S. State Department recently published an “implementation update” of its Indo-Pacific strategy, titled “A Free and Open Indo-Pacific: Advancing a Shared Vision.” It provides a summary of the State Department’s initiatives over the last two years – namely its’ “diplomatic, economic, governance and security” actions to implement a whole-of-government strategy in the region. Ideally, it should complement the Department of Defense’s Indo-Pacific Strategy Report. While the Pentagon report mentions climate change as a “transnational challenge” within its report, the State Department document includes no mention of climate change, despite severe consequences for the region, including as it relates to transboundary water issues, such as the Mekong River, which are creating tensions among multiple countries that share a river system. (more…)