The Center for Climate and Security

In the past week, North Korea has suffered from massive flooding, destroying homes and agricultural fields. Much of the damage is due to poor infrastructure development and deforestation, but climate change-juiced extreme precipitation events don't help. In a scenarios workshop The Council on Strategic Risks held in Seoul in June, participants discussed how climate hazards, including extreme storms, in North Korea will shape security threats to South Korea. From the workshop report: "Likewise, extreme weather events could drive instability in North-South relations. In the Slow-Onset scenario, back-to-back storms of unprecedented scale struck the Korean peninsula amidst rising social unrest. Participants agreed that North Korea would likely fare significantly worse than South Korea in this situation. The devastating storms could aggravate food insecurity and drive displacement, undermining regime stability in North Korea. As a result, North Korea may seek to provoke additional tensions to project strength following the severe storms. Moreover, with several South Korean communities located downstream from rivers in the North, intentional and unintentional discharges of excess water from extreme precipitation could adversely affect South Korea if not addressed beforehand." Thanks to my colleagues Ethan Wong, Lily B., John Conger & Ellen Laipson for spearheading this important conversation. #climatesecurity #climatecrisis #climatethreats https://lnkd.in/eutVRH2r

📼 In response to the release of #NATO's 2024 Climate Change and Security Impact Assessment, Tom Ellison provides commentary to TRT World on how militaries around the world are grappling with the security challenges posed by #climatechange ⬇️

I'm absolutely elated to share that, this Monday, I joined the Center for Climate and Security as a Senior Advisor. (True, it's normal to take time off between jobs, but I was too excited to get going.) I am deeply grateful for the chance to continue working at the intersection of national/international security and climate change and to join the spectacular team at CCS and the Council on Strategic Risks writ large. Many exciting things planned, so watch this space.

CCS and the U.S. Mission to New Zealand convened a cohort of young leaders who shared video testimony of their visions of a climate-secure Pacific, culminating in a trip to New Zealand where their ideas were heard by government officials and ministries 📼 Watch the video: https://lnkd.in/dUe9uVae ➡️ Read the trip summary: https://lnkd.in/d6pzDhxc #climatechange #climatesecurity 

My piece today for The Lawfare Institute explores a climate change risk that permeates all the others, even if it's less tangible than crop failures or hurricanes: climate change and mis/disinformation. Climate misinformation includes denialism, but it's broader than that. As climate change intensifies and the required policy responses become more urgent, it gives bad actors more openings and incentives to peddle lies, exploit misconceptions, or manipulate audiences for a whole host of goals. We already see this playing out--whether it's China blaming wildfires in Maui on weather control weapons, countries deploying influence campaigns over dwindling disputed water resources, extremists spreading xenophobic narratives amid climate-driven migration, or Russia amplifying European divisions over sustainable agriculture. As climate change intensifies, combined with low trust and rapid technological change, this challenge is likely to grow, and more work is needed to combat it. Read the piece here: https://lnkd.in/es6FXAPf You can also check out a lengthier report on this topic by me and Brigitte Hugh for The Center for Climate and Security below: https://lnkd.in/gddxHNJc

NEW -- Today, the US Department of Defense released the 2024 Arctic Strategy, which does an impressive job of framing the climate security challenge in the region. Crucially, the strategy recognizes it is the *combination* of climate change and shifts in the geopolitical environment drives the need for a new strategic approach in the Arctic. To that end, DepSecDef Hicks opened her remarks at the strategy launch with the impact of climate change, followed by China and Russia, noting the former provides an opening for those two countries to strengthen their presence and disruptive operations in the region. One of the ironies of climate change is that a warming Arctic means an increased need to prepare for cold weather operations; as the strategy states, “...the loss of sea ice will increase the viability of Arctic maritime transit routes and access to undersea resources. Increases in human activity will elevate the risk of accidents, miscalculation, and environmental degradation.” Such risks are something the The Center for Climate and Security, and explored in a tabletop exercise held at the University of Pennsylvania Perry World House last year. Of note, the strategy recognizes that climate change is leading to increased unpredictability in the Arctic. The document calls for strengthened partnerships with US government scientific agencies, including the US Global Change Research Program and NOAA, to ensure DoD is able to minimize and manage this uncertainty. https://lnkd.in/dfttMtJn

🆕 Exacerbated by the effects of #climatechange, water scarcity and desertification pose a severe threat to communities in North Africa.  Read proposed solutions from Malak Altaeb in the latest EcoSec Fellowship Briefer:

📑 NEW: "Sleeper species" are a threat to ecological security globally due to their unpredictable nature and our lack of preparedness to deal with acute biotic eruptions—and the unique characteristics of the Great Lakes ecosystems, industries, and communities present a challenging socio-ecological context for future invasive species management. ➡️ Explore what can be done in the latest Ecological Security Fellowship Briefer from Christopher B.: https://lnkd.in/eZ_iDykb

🆕 The UI update to the interactive #MiRCH Tracker is live! Adding to its comprehensive location-based tracker, you can now apply a set of filters, highlight key figures, and review a running tab of entries. 🗺️ Learn more and explore the tracker: https://lnkd.in/epJiyvdy

🌎🛡️ RELEASE: To address the #climate challenge, militaries will need to think fundamentally differently about how—and what—they buy. This encompasses procurement policy, process, and requirements that meet both mission and sustainability requirements. Military acquisition leaders should send this market signal to civilian and commercial energy researchers and catalyze clean energy research by committing to purchase the products that are developed. ➡ Explore the latest analysis & recommendations across 4 chapters in the 2024 IMCCS World Climate and Security Report: https://lnkd.in/gz2ygf4T Planetary Security Initiative HCSS - The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies IRIS - Institut de Relations Internationales et Stratégiques #ClimateSecurity #WCSR2024