While addressing the graduates of the Coast Guard academy last spring, President Obama told the assembled ensigns that climate change would be a defining national security issue for their time in uniform. Earlier this fall, in a village facing immediate threats of sea level rise, he told Alaskan Natives that “if another country threatened to wipe out an American town, we’d do everything in our power to protect it… climate change poses that same threat now.” The president has raised a red flag over an issue that has concerned defense officials and the national security establishment for several years now, as well as the environmental community.
On October 20, 2015, over 700 environmental lawyers, scientists, engineers, economists, and other professionals gathered in Washington, D.C., to honor an exemplary figure in environmental policy. Just prior to the annual Award Dinner, ELI holds its principal policy event of the year, the ELI-Miriam Hamilton Keare Policy Forum. This year, the topic was “Dangerous Intersection: Climate Change and National Security.”
The dangers of climate change are not usually couched in terms of national security, but awareness of the issue is growing rapidly. Triggered by climate and a potential harbinger for instability to come, no example is more potent than the refugee crisis in Europe and the Middle East. According to New Scientist, “Climate triggered the crisis in Syria, so the world must brace itself for more climate refugees in the years to come.” What could be more basic to national security than a climate conducive for agriculture, water supplies, ecosystem health, industrial production, biodiversity, and human comfort? What could be more threatening than extreme weather events or mass migrations because of rising seas and crop failures? The Alliance of Small Island States fears that they could literally be wiped off the map because of rising sea levels.
In December, the parties to the Climate Convention will meet in Paris to hammer out for the first time an agreement for all nations. The Keare Forum, with its high-level panel focused on national security, will be an important stepping stone on the way to a binding accord for all nations. Our panelists and audience members were a part of this urgent discussion of the vital intersection between climate and national security.
Panelists:
Capt. Leo Goff, Ph.D., Military Advisory Board, Center for Naval Analyses (moderator)
Francesco Femia, Founding Director, The Center for Climate and Security
Alice Hill, Senior Advisor for Preparedness and Resilience, National Security Council, The White House
Thilmeeza Hussain, Voice of Women - Maldives, Co-Founder
Marcus King, John O. Rankin Associate Professor of International Affairs, George Washington University
Maureen Sullivan, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Environment, Safety, and Occupational Health
Reference Materials:
U.S. Department of Defense Report National Security Implications of Climate-Related Risks and a Changing Climate (July 23, 2015)
Findings from Select Federal Reports: The National Security Implications of a Changing Climate (The White House, May 2015)