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Tag Archives: climate change and security
CCS Releases New Tool: Military Responses to Climate Hazards Tracker
By Tom Ellison and Erin Sikorsky
As temperatures continue to rise and drive extreme weather events that draw in militaries worldwide, the Center for Climate and Security (CCS) is launching a new effort to monitor military actions in response to climate hazards: the Military Responses to Climate Hazards (MiRCH) Tracker. Militaries are increasingly called upon to assist with wildfires, flood response, and other extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change. According to our tracker, since summer 2022, militaries in dozens of countries have responded nearly one hundred times to such hazards.
Ongoing climate change and weather patterns will only increase this demand, starting this summer with the expected arrival of the El Niño climate pattern, which scientists warn will result in significant temperature increases. This tracking effort will help analytic efforts to identify the temporal and geographic patterns in military deployments to climate hazards, the effectiveness of such deployments, and their implications for geopolitics, governance, and civil-military relations.
The tracker will be updated monthly. In addition to our own research at CCS, we are also calling for public input to identify incidents of military deployments in response to climate hazards. To do so, you can enter data into this Google Form. You can also download the up-to-date dataset on the MiRCH landing page.
Caveats: This project began as an informal tracking effort. The data is not comprehensive and relies heavily on English language press, and government social media posts. While we do not have confirmed climate change attribution for every hazard listed, authoritative climate science products such as the IPCC report indicate that events such as heatwaves, wildfires, floods, storms, and droughts are statistically more likely or intense in a warming world.
Please cite this project as The Center for Climate and Security’s Military Responses to Climate Hazards (MiRCH) Tracker.
Please direct media inquiries to Andrew Facini, CSR Communications Director
Water Weaponization: Its Forms, Its Use in the Russia-Ukraine War, and What to Do About It
By Marcus King and Emily Hardy
Introduction
Water has been associated with conflict and cooperation between states since the beginning of recorded history. In ancient Mesopotamia, a conflict over the Euphrates River between two Sumerian cities yielded the world’s first recorded treaty.1 However, water has just as often been weaponized during conflict—water weaponization being the exploitation of the human need for water, by deliberately rendering it scarce and/ or insecure. During World War Two, for example, the Royal Air Force Squadron 617—nicknamed the “American Dambusters”—conducted “Operation Chastise” to destroy three German-controlled dams in Germany’s industrial core.2 Two of the three targeted dams, Möhne and Eder, collapsed, significantly damaging hydroelectric infrastructure in the country. This is a classic case of water weaponization, and the practice has continued through to this day—all while climate change continues to place serious stress on water resources. This briefer will highlight the core elements of water weaponization, and then assess its practice in the Russia-Ukraine war to date.
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Call for Applications: Climate Security Fellows 2023-2024
The Center for Climate and Security (CCS), an institute of the Council on Strategic Risks, is pleased to announce a call for applications for the 2023-2024 Climate Security Fellowship.
In the last few years, extreme weather, food and energy crises, and global competition over clean energy have underscored the security implications of climate change, prompting the Biden Administration to order climate change be placed at the center of U.S. national security and foreign policy. To meet this goal, there is a need for increased capacity on the part of the U.S. security and climate workforces to think and act more broadly and deeply on climate security. The Climate Security Fellowship creates a space for mid-career professionals to explore the impact of climate on security and security on climate while building a network of professionals working at this nexus.
The Climate Security Fellowship will run for nine months (September 2023–May 2024) with one two-hour meeting each month, held virtually. Meetings will involve outside speakers, reading, and group discussion exploring different aspects of climate security such as climate finance, food and water security, military and intelligence services, and strategic competition.
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We’re Recruiting: 5-month Consultant for CSR’s Work Examining Climate/Ecological Security and Emerging Diseases
The Council on Strategic Risks (CSR) is seeking an independent consultant with a strong background in climate change and ecological issues, and knowledge or eagerness to learn about how these issues are affecting the risk of disease spillover. The consultant will contribute to exciting, multidisciplinary work to shape policies and practices for reducing this risk.
Background and Details for Applicants
CSR is currently conducting a research project that explores the safety and security considerations associated with pandemic prevention research in sites at high risk for zoonotic disease spillover. The team is interested in understanding the role that conservation and ecological interventions can play in quelling/preventing outbreaks at the source, and how these practices can be optimally integrated into pandemic prevention. This project also seeks to enhance the connectivity between the ecological security and biological security fields in order to maximize the utility of pandemic prevention research while minimizing risks.
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