Indonesia’s Climate Security and Renewable Energy Nexus: A Landscape Assessment
By Andrea Rezzonico, Caroline Baxter, and Erin Sikorsky
Executive Summary
Indonesia faces intensifying climate change impacts that can undermine its national security. As the largest archipelagic nation strategically positioned between the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean, Indonesia is highly exposed to climate hazards such as sea-level rise, cyclones, extreme heat, drought, flooding, and wildfires. These hazards jeopardize Indonesia’s defense infrastructure and military readiness. Key military bases, particularly in geopolitically sensitive areas, are vulnerable to extreme weather events and subsequent energy disruptions, potentially limiting the armed forces’ ability to respond to regional crises. At the same time, climate-sensitive sectors – and major employers – such as agriculture and fisheries are increasingly vulnerable to warmer temperatures and erratic precipitation patterns. This already impacts rice production and fish catches in the country, raising food security concerns and increasing the potential for internal migration, rising unemployment, and other domestic challenges.
New on the CCS Bookshelf: Climate Change on the Battlefield
Today we celebrate the release of CCS Director Erin Sikorsky’s new book, Climate Change on the Battlefield: International Military Responses to the Climate Crisis. The book is a comparative look at how militaries worldwide are approaching the security risks of climate change. It begins by exploring how climate affects military readiness, increases demand on militaries for disaster response, and hampers existing military missions. It then includes case studies of China, France, Kenya, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States, comparing countries that are layering or integrating climate into their current strategies versus those taking a more transformative view of how climate is changing their militaries’ role. The book also looks at NATO and the African Union.
Climate Disinformation, Peace and Security: Good News, Bad News, and Key Questions
By Tom Ellison
As previously covered by the Center for Climate and Security (CCS), the intersection of climate change and misinformation is not only a barrier to science-based climate and energy policy but also a growing challenge to peace and security. The problem is diverse and intensifying, from extremists and autocratic governments exploiting climate-driven disasters to propagandize, to xenophobic actors mobilizing against climate-driven migrants, to conspiracy theorists and attention economy grifters invoking climate policies in multifaceted justifications for extremism or authoritarianism.
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Reshaping Multilateralism Episode 8: Multilateralism Back in the Hands of the Global South
The final episode of Season 1 of the Nexus25 project podcast, Reshaping Multilateralism, is now available on Spotify and the Nexus25 website. This first season saw significant geopolitical and multilateral challenges; episodes have covered the transition from the Biden to the Trump Administration, European Parliament elections, actions on global food security, and the response to extreme weather events across South Asia and Africa.
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