Climate Change and the New Security Environment

The respected British defense think tank the Royal United Services Institute has done a considerable amount of research and thinking on the subject of climate change, national security, and geopolitics.  Consider their language from a 2008 comprehensive review - - "In the next decades, climate change will drive as significant a change in the strategic security environment as the end of the Cold War.  If uncontrolled, climate change will have security implications of similar magnitude to the World Wars, but which will last for centuries."  Note the timescale - - "for centuries."

The United States military is facing an era in which the potential for climate change to reshape security landscapes is an issue rapidly rising on the global political agenda.  The security communities in the U.S. must prepare for these changes - - incorporating climate impacts into planning and operations and generating momentum for institutional change in the face of this new security environment.

Key issues for U.S. defense policy experts - -

• How will climate change reshape future approaches to defence and security?
• What policy initiatives are needed in order to deal comprehensively with climate-driven insecurity, and what steps need to be taken to make these changes?
• How should security planning proceed within an environment of incomplete information - - regarding the timing and severity of climate changes, and the linkages between climate change and instability?
• How can the international community mitigate tensions around strategic assets, territorial claims and access to resources in the Arctic?
• What are the latent assessments from the climate science community, and how can climate modelling be integrated into social science to deliver sound projections of future vulnerabilities?
• How will climate change affect international relations, security policy, economic relationships, and tensions within and between countries?