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Invitation: Climate Security Tweetathon
Please see below an invitation from the British Embassy, Washington for a Climate Security Tweetathon they will be hosting on Nov. 25th from 1-2pm EST with Rear Admiral David Titley, US Navy (ret) and Rear Admiral Neil Morisetti, British Royal Navy (ret). For those of you based in the Washington, DC area, the British Embassy will be hosting a lunch from 12:30-2pm EST. To attend please RSVP to britishembassyRSVP@gmail.com by Nov. 24th.UK to Integrate Climate Change Into Military Planning
UK Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Edward Davey, announced at a Green Growth Summit at the European Parliament in Brussels that the UK would be integrating climate risks into its military planning, stating that:
The expected impacts of climate change will be integrated into the UK’s next strategic defence and security review, expected next summer, just before the Paris conference.
Secretary Hagel on Climate Change Affecting the Security Environment
Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel will be attending the 11th Conference of the Defense Ministers of the Americas (CDMA), according to a DoD press release it is the “the Western Hemisphere’s “premiere venue” for senior leaders to discuss regional defense issues,” and climate change is on the agenda. At a press conference earlier this week Secretary Hagel provided a preview of the topics he will discuss at the CDMA tomorrow. Sec. Hagel noted specifically the role of climate change on the security environment. John Banusiewicz with DoD news reports: (more…)
Flood Relief in Kashmir: An Opportunity for Conflict Transformation?
The worst flooding in decades has wreaked havoc in Kashmir, the disputed region between Pakistan and India, and one of the world’s most heavily militarized boarders. To date hundreds have lost their lives to the floods and landslides and thousands more remain stranded awaiting assistance. Responding to the flood is a top priority for both nations. Pakistani and Indian troops are diverting some of their attention away from on-going hostilities in order to focus on flood recovery.
However, the political realities outside the bounds of the flood waters will likely limit the extent of the goodwill shared between the nation’s leaders, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who have both offered flood relief assistance to their counterparts. (more…)
Climate Change, National Security and the Big Blue Rabbit
Stars and Stripes magazine’s Wyatt Olson recently published a very interesting and thorough article titled “PACOM not waiting for politics to plan for climate change challenges.” The article details the reasons U.S. Pacific Command is taking climate change seriously, and some of what it’s doing to combat the threat.
A great quote from the piece, which perfectly encapsulates the national security community’s risk management approach to climate change, comes from Brig. Gen. Mark McLeod. He stated:
Seventy percent of the bad storms that happen in the world are in the Pacific,” he said. “Call it climate change, call it the big blue rabbit, I don’t give a hoot what you call it — the military has to respond to those kinds of things.
Creating Climate-Secure Water-Sharing Treaties
In light of the recent news of armed bandits demanding water in India, and on-going water tension in Iraq and Syria, we are cross-posting the below post from Thomas Currant at the New Security Beat titled “Climate Change Will Test Water-Sharing Agreements.” The post looks at a working paper by a group of researchers at the World Bank, “Climate Change, Conflict, and Cooperation: Global Analysis of the Resilience of International River Treaties to Increased Water Variability.” Neil Bhatiya, with The Century Foundation, also wrote a good summary of the working paper, “Designing an Ideal Water-Sharing Treaty.” (more…)
Weekly Wisdom: Yogi Berra on the Future
Yogi Berra, the famously philosophical former American baseball player, once noted that: “The future ain’t what it used to be.”
And he was right. Our present is the future Berra was talking about, and in terms of the climate, it “ain’t what it used to be” for at least one million years. NASA scientist Dr. Charles Miller highlighted the unprecedented levels of CO2 emissions now in the atmosphere, which have been at and above 400ppm for the last several months – levels that humanity has never experienced before. (more…)
