is climate change a matter of national security

Not so for melting ice, or rising sea water. Similarly, the number of acres burned in U.S. wildland fires increased from 5.3 million acres in 2008 to 8.8 million acres in 2018, according to data from the National Interagency Fire Center. Or, changing patterns of drought in Africa could further exacerbate problems of food security for millions in dry regions like the Sahel, pushing migrants across contested borders. It will require a ‘whole of government’ focus that directs actions towards mitigating emissions, building resilience into domestic infrastructure, financing adaptation, and planning to respond to disasters. 1. “And folks having to move from their family farms into cities where they then were not getting any support, and therefore a civil war began.”. . The fact is that the earth is warming, and has been for at least a century. ASP has been a leader in looking at the national security implications of the Climate Change, since the publication of the Climate Security Index in 2009. Alexandria, Virginia 22314-2882 President-elect Barack Obama said on Tuesday attacking global climate change is a "matter of urgency" that will create jobs as he got advice from Al Gore, who won a … Stavridis says global climate change, which is causing the polar cap melt, has an especially “pernicious” effect on national security because it is hard to see and often occurs over time. In the same letter, the group of leaders also noted how disastrous weather events can cause significant harm to the nation’s security infrastructure. Last year, a report issued by the Center for Climate and Security (CCS) found that more than 200 U.S. military installations had been flooded by storm surges, compared to about 30 in 2008. American Competitiveness & Economic Diplomacy, What we are reading | American Security Project, As Climate Envoy, John Kerry will lead Climate Action from the National Security Council, Building Caribbean Resilience with Fossil Fuel Revenues, Sanctions on Nord Stream 2? Climate change is a pressing risk to national and global security. And the potential consequences of this development go beyond environmental damage. adshelp[at]cfa.harvard.edu The ADS is operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory under NASA Cooperative Agreement NNX16AC86A Climate change is an accelerating threat to national security. In terms of the actual frequency of disastrous events, experts point to a disturbing increase in recent years. ASP has been a leader in looking at the national security implications of the Climate Change, since the publication of the Climate Security Index in 2009. A recent example of this occurred in the United States in 2017, when for the first time in 100 years two Category 4 hurricanes hit the U.S. mainland. Framing climate change as a national security threat has obvious advantages. In each of these cases, climate change acts as a threat multiplier: it’s not just that the effects of climate change (sea level rise, melting glaciers, drought, etc) that will be dangerous, but it’s how people living in the affected regions react. “These efforts can include acquiring and demolishing flood-prone buildings,” he said at the hearing. At a U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing in April, Goldfein cited the Syrian Civil War as an example of how climate change’s impact has already destabilized some nations. Nonetheless, he says climate change is a threat to national security in several ways. The Global Security Defense Index on climate change evaluates the extents of governments in considering climate change to be a national security issue. And – they are the most threatening to national security planners because rapid changes like this will inevitably cause reactions by people that could cause conflict. Another challenge, Stavridis says, is that climate effects such as rising sea levels, droughts, and desalinization of water supplies can destabilize countries, which can lead to violent conflict and even full-blown wars. Perspective – A Closer Look at the U.S. Strategy on Sanctions, Protecting Yourself from Disinformation in 2020, ASP COO Andrew Holland in High North News, U.S. Congress Gives Support for New Fusion Public-Private Partnership, Trump Administration Decision to Withdraw from Syria Another Sign U.S. able to play a leading role in confronting climate change not only because it commands authority and respect from the public Trump Drops Climate Threats from National Security Strategy. But for the most recent years of 2018–2019, billion-dollar disasters have occurred at a rate of 12.6 events per year, a significant increase, according to NCEI. Climate Change as a National Security Concern. Finally, Eggleston, like many other advocates, added that risk from climate-related events will only be increasing in the future, so the issue is a long-term one. I am not a scientist, so I will leave the rest of the explanation to NASA scientist Jim Hansen, who discussed the science of climate change in a recent TED speech. It was Vice President Dick Cheney who first enunciated the “1% doctrine” in which the War on Terror empowered the U.S. government to say “Even if there’s just a 1 percent chance of the unimaginable coming due, act as if it is a certainty.” What we have now is at least 95% certainty from the science community, and yet you have many American politicians (including more than a few who supported Cheney’s pre-emptive doctrines) saying we cannot act because we do not have certainty. National security and defense officials are recognizing climate change as the threat it is. On 14 June 2017 the Senate referred the following matter to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee for inquiry and report by 4 December 2017: Implications of climate change for Australia’s national security. The Defense Department, the Intelligence Community, and the Department of Homeland Security are closely studying the effects of climate change, particularly how it will impact our security. CCS is a nonpartisan research institute of the Council of Strategic Risks that supports policies that will best manage the effects of climate change on security. The report’s findings on the direct impacts of climate change on our national security is all about risks to the critical, hard infrastructure that helps sustain our national strength, and the military personnel who support it. Stavridis also advocates for cooperation among the nine combatant commands and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, so that they can produce contingency plans that will factor in security challenges induced by climate change. Our domestic security is threatened by the effects of climate change. But – we have to start somewhere. 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