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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.
As NATO Countries Pledge to Up Defense Spending, Will Food and Climate Security Have a Seat at the Table?
By Siena Cicarelli and Tom Ellison
This summer marks a critical juncture for European food and climate security. Before heading off on their summer holidays, leaders will attempt to navigate burgeoning crises in the Middle East, an unpredictable US government, growing defense needs, and an unstable global economy.
Several key political decision points are unfolding this summer, starting with this week’s NATO Summit, where a number of member state leaders committed to a new defense and security spending target of 5 percent of GDP by 2035, which, if implemented by the target date, could entail roughly hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending. However, given that the text of the commitment changed from “all Allies” to just “Allies,” in the final hours of negotiations, commitments will likely vary by member state. Furthermore, given the current combination of budget deficits, national politics, and a collective shift towards “competitiveness,” the European Union risks falling prey to false dichotomies and short-termism, placing climate and food security priorities essential to sustainable security on the back burner in favor of “hard” security goals. While 1.5% GDP of the new spending target can come from non-defense resilience, infrastructure, and civil preparedness spending, food and climate security were not prominent at the NATO Summit.
(more…)Building a Sustainable World Bank Group Strategy for Fragility, Conflict, and Violence
By Siena Cicarelli, Erin Sikorsky, and Michael Werz
China Seizes an Opportunity from the United States in Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Response
In early March, former USAID China Advisor Francisco Bencosme warned that withdrawing disaster relief and food aid risked undermining the United States’ power and influence in the Pacific Region. Indeed, over the last month, the United States’ strategic competitors have begun to fill the $54+ billion aid shortfall caused by that retreat.
While the humanitarian toll of the USAID withdrawal is severe – fueling preventable deaths, global health risks, conflict, and inequality – it also threatens US national security interests. The dissolution of USAID has created a soft power vacuum in East Asia and the Indo-Pacific for China to easily fill.
The Chinese government has long used foreign aid and investments via the Belt and Road Initiative to gain strategic influence in Africa, Asia, and South America. However, it had to navigate existing US investments and partnerships. Now, with US resources gone, China has the opportunity to bolster its geostrategic interests – and outcompete the United States.
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