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Defense Planning Can Guide the National Response to Storms and Rising Seas
By Jeffrey Peterson
Author of the new book “A New Coast: Strategies for Responding to Devastating Storms and Rising Seas”
The United States Department of Defense is coming to grips with the implications of climate change for national security, including the threat that more severe coastal storms and rising sea level pose to domestic military bases.
Because military bases depend on surrounding communities, decisions about how to protect or relocate military facilities need to be made in cooperation with state and local officials. More importantly, a determined effort by the Department of Defense to prepare bases for storms and rising seas could prove to be a catalyst that prompts the country as a whole to better recognize and respond to these risks. (more…)
General Castellaw on Devastating New Sea Level Rise Exposure Projections
Sea level projections for Basra, Iraq. Source: Kulp, S.A., Strauss, B.H. New elevation data triple estimates of global vulnerability to sea-level rise and coastal flooding. Nat Commun 10, 4844 (2019)
A new study by Climate Central’s Scott Kulp and Benjamin Strauss, published in the prestigious Nature Communications, finds that populated coastlines around the world are three times more exposed to sea level rise than previously thought, which has the potential to almost completely inundate major coastal cities around the world. The potential security implications of the loss of these major coastal urban areas are enormous. In an article covering the new report, the New York Times spoke with the Center for Climate and Security’s Lieutenant General John Castellaw, US Marine Corps (Ret), about projections for the important coastal city of Basra in Iraq. From the article:
Basra, the second-largest city in Iraq, could be mostly underwater by 2050. If that happens, the effects could be felt well beyond Iraq’s borders, according to John Castellaw, a retired Marine Corps lieutenant general who was chief of staff for United States Central Command during the Iraq War.
Further loss of land to rising waters there “threatens to drive further social and political instability in the region, which could reignite armed conflict and increase the likelihood of terrorism,” said General Castellaw, who is now on the advisory board of the Center for Climate and Security, a research and advocacy group in Washington.
“So this is far more than an environmental problem,” he said. “It’s a humanitarian, security and possibly military problem too.”
Read the full sea level rise study here.
Congressional Research Service: Military Installations and Sea-Level Rise
By Marc Kodack
The Congressional Research Service recently released a two page In Focus report on sea level rise and military installations. The U.S. Department of Defense has over 1,700 installations that could be affected by sea level rise, with the potential to affect readiness and operations. The authors suggest that Congress might consider using their fiscal and national security authorities to determine how these installations are preparing to address sea level rise. (more…)
Climate and Security in the News Today
Shayne Hensley / U.S. Navy
Four news stories were published today on the intersection of climate change and national security, and all are worth a read.
“Rising seas threaten Norfolk Naval Shipyard, raising fears of ‘catastrophic damage’,” by Nicholas Kusnetz of Inside Climate News, and also published on NBC News. The article features quotes from Center for Climate and Security Advisory Board members Vice Admiral Dennis McGinn, USN (Ret); Rear Admiral David Titley, USN (Ret); and Rear Admiral Jonathan White, USN (Ret).
“Climate Change and National Security, Part I: What is the Threat, When’s It Coming, and How Bad Will It Be?” by Michelle Melton at the popular Lawfare blog. The article is part of a multi-part series, and does a great job of breaking down the basics of climate change and national security, and includes a link to our list of eighteen senior defense officials who have identified climate change as a national security issue. In fact, with General Joe Dunford’s recent statement, that makes nineteen. (more…)