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Homeland Security and Resilience Programme

RUSI Asia Programme

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Delivering Climate Security
Delivering Climate Security

Whitehall Paper 69
Events
Contacts
Publication Articles

Climate Change and Security

climate asia

It is increasingly apparent that the effects of climate change will have salient security dimensions.  Hurricane Katrina demonstrated the massive displacement of population that natural disaster could incur even in an advanced economy.  In the developing world, the pressures of a changing environment such as drought, desertification and rising sea levels will pose significant challenges for both states and regions, as social, political and economic dynamics come under pressure.  In worst-case scenarios, the effects of climate change are likely to induce violent conflict.  Governments are thus faced with difficult choices as they struggle to maintain access to energy supplies but also seek to address their climatic effects.

RUSI has started an extensive programme of research and events to analyze these problems in detail and address the urgent issues facing policy-makers today.

Beckett at RUSI climate changeResource based conflicts are not new: they are literally as old as the hills. But in climate change we have a new and potentially disastrous dynamic.

Rt Hon Margaret Beckett MP
Former Foreign Secretary
Speaking at RUSI

News and Analysis

RUSI Climate Security analysis

RUSI Whitehall Report #69 'Delivering Climate Security: International Security Responses to a Climate Changed World'

Arctic ice 'is at a tipping point'
BBC, 28 August

North Pole ice cap melting faster than ever
AFP, 28 August

Food riots as Indian floods destroy 250,000 homes
Reuters, 27 August

A push to increase icebreakers in the Arctic
NYT, 16 August

US military launches war on global warming
New Scientist, 8 August

Arctic maps shows dispute hotspots
BBC, 6 August

Climate war games: roleplay negotiations test the outcomes of global warming
Nature, 5 August

US Intelligence Community Grapples with Climate Change
World Politics Review, 30 July

Canadian Arctic sheds ice chunk
BBC, 30 July

Climate Change War Game 'In the Field' blog
Nature, 29 July

Arctic has 90bn barrels of crude
FT, 24 July

Arctic 'has 90bn barrels of oil'
BBC, 24 July

Climate campaigners threaten to invade and shut down power plant
Independent, 11 July

No ice at the North Pole
Independent, 27 June

North Pole could be ice-free this summer, scientists say
CNN, 27 June

Climate change may strain US forces
Reuters, 25 June

Intel Report Eyes Climate Change-Security Link
National Public Radio (US), 25 June

US National Intelligence Assessment of climate change to be released Wed 25 June
Wired, 23 June

Satellite for tracking sea levels set for launch
AFP, 19 June

Conflicts fuelled by climate change causing new refugee crisis, warns UN
Guardian, 17 June

Arctic thaw threatens Siberian permafrost
Independent, 14 June

Britain's climate target 'impossible'
Guardian, 9 June

Climate a war threat: NATO Secretary General
AFP, 4 June

FAO launches climate change website ahead of food security conference
FAO, 2 June

Nature loss 'to hurt global poor'
BBC, 29 May

Arctic claimants say they will obey UN rules
Reuters, 29 May

Spain's drought: a glimpse of our future?
Independent, 24 May

Google Earth releases animated climate change map
Reuters, 19 May

IPCC VP warns climate change will lead to 'barbarisation'
Guardian, 15 May

US navy stands by with Burma aid
FT, 6 May

Climate change: displacements set to increase
IPS, 28 April

US air force calls for mission to combat climate change
Guardian, 28 April

Solar power, weeds and algae to fuel armed forces of future
Times of London, 27 April

RUSI releases major climate security publication
RUSI, 23 April

'Tenfold R&D rise needed for climate change'
Telegraph, 23 April

Climate change could spark century long World War
Business Green, 23 April

Response to climate security threats 'slow and inadequate': RUSI report
AFP, 23 April

Climate change 'may put world at war'
Telegraph, 23 April

Security risk from climate underestimated - RUSI report
Reuters, 23 April

More...

Climate and Security Research

Environmental Change and Security Program
Promotes dialogue on the connections among environmental, health, and population dynamics, and their links to conflict, human security, and foreign policy

Institute for Environmental Security
Linking environmental issues with military security and sustainable development

Environment, Conflict and Cooperation
Information clearinghouse on environmental security issues

Foundation for Environmental Security and Sustainability
Produce policy-oriented research on environment, stability and conflict

Global Environmental Change and Human Security (GECHS)
Research focusing on how environment interacts with other factors to impact human security

International Research Institute for Climate and Society
Focusing on the social impacts of climate change in Africa, Asia, and Latin America

Consortium of Non-Traditional Security Studies in Asia
Directed by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Singapore

African Centre for Technology Studies
A science, technology, and environmental policy think-tank


Security Documents

Assessment of Select Climate Change Impacts on U.S. National Security
Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Colombia University

Delivering Climate Security: International Responses to a Climate Changed World
Nick Mabey, RUSI

Climate Change, National Security, and the Quadrennial Defense Review: Avoiding the Perfect Storm
John T. Ackerman, Strategic Studies Quarterly

An Uncertain Future: Law Enforcement, National Security and Climate Change
Oxford Research Group

Climate Change and National Security: An Agenda for Action
Council on Foreign Relations

A Climate of Conflict
International Alert

The Age of Consequences
Center for a New American Security and Center for Strategic and International Studies

World in Transition - Climate Change as a Security Risk
German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU)

National Security and the Threat of Climate Change
CNA Corporation

Strategic Trends 2007-2036
Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre (DCDC)

 

Audio, Video and Events Resources

The Malignant National Security Problem of Climate Change
28 June, 2008

World Bank Social Dimensions of Climate Change
5 March, 2008

NATO Security Science Forum on Environmental Security
12 March, 2008

Climate change will lead to more migration: UN Agencies
18 Feb, 2008

'Climate Change: The Next Global Security Threat' 
Johan Eliasch at the Brookings Institute, Washington D.C.
31 January, 2008

Triangle Institute for Security Studies & US Army War College
Climate Change and Security Conference - videos

30-31 March, 2007

'Violence and Vulnerability'
This 22 minute documentary explores the link between conflict and climate stress in the Kitui District of Kenya 

Environmental Change and Security Program - videos
Video of ECSP events, which focus on the connections among environmental, health, and population dynamics, and their links to conflict, human security, and foreign policy


Events 

Upcoming

Climate Change: Preparing for the New Security Environment
RUSI

3 September

Africa Climate Change Forum
LSE, Republic of Rwanda

10-11 September