Climate Change and Security
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.
Resource 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.
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News & Analysis
RUSI Climate Security analysis
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
Climate change can stoke Africa conflicts - scientist
Reuters, 22 April
The Greening of the Pentagon
TIME, 20 April
Melting mountains a "time bomb" for water shortages
Reuters, 15 April
Climate change rises in World Bank agenda
Reuters, 10 April
Food price rises threaten global security - UN
Guardian, 9 April
The impact of climate change on human health
World Health Organization, 7 April
Climate change could bring malaria and other infectious diseases to the UK
British Medical Association, 3 April
Sudden 'ecosystem flips' imperil world's poorest regions, say water experts
Science Daily, 2 April
Tensions rise as world faces short rations
Reuters, 31 March
Climate change now a UN human rights issue
AFP, 29 March
US experts will stage climate war game
United Press International, 25 March
'UN Security Council must act preemtively - on climate change'
Christian Science Monitor, 24 March
Major food source threatened by climate change
New Scientist, 24 March
Sea levels rising too fast for Thames Barrier
Independent, 22 March
'Before the flood'
Javier Solana, 13 March
Climate Change to dominate EU summit
BBC, 13 March
Climate change may spark conflict with Russia, EU told
Guardian, 10 March
Food crisis will take hold before climate change, warns UK cheif scientist
Guardian, 7 March
EU warned of climate-related security threats
Reuters, 6 March
UN warns on food price inflation
BBC, 6 March
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
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
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
High-Level Conference on World Food Security and the Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy
UN Food and Agriculture Association, Rome
3-5 June
RUSI Climate Change and Security Conference
Copyright © 2008 RUSI