Environmental Security: Military and Security Implications of Climate Change

24 March 2011

Climate change, environmental degradation, and resource strains are currently shaping the global security environment and are directly affecting the ways in which military planners consider how to deal with new strategic, operational and logistic challenges. The wildfires in Russia and the floods in Pakistan and Bangladesh demonstrated the kinds of natural disasters that may become increasingly common as side effects of climate change. These changing conditions will provide new and varied challenges for the military and security forces in affected countries and regions. These challenges will range from emergency evacuation, to provision of humanitarian assistance and grappling with the security implications of increased migration and resource shortages.

Many environmental breakdowns can be anticipated, their dynamics tracked, and their likely consequences factored into security and military contingency planning. There are four key areas of focus for planners:

Intelligence – setting priorities for analysing the potential environmental security challenges
Threat Intensification / Acceleration – contingency planning for threats and challenges arising from the impact of environmental issues intersecting with political, economic and social factors
Military Readiness – understanding how fixed installations and infrastructure could be threatened by the impact of climate change and environmental strain, and how the operational readiness of military and security forces and their equipment will also be challenged
New Missions and Capabilities – assessing what new or enhanced capabilities will be required to address operational landscapes threatened by environmental breakdowns and the consequences for operational response capacity

For more details about the content of this online seminar, please see the programme.

Participate in this online seminar
for just $299 or £199 (+ VAT for UK customers) including archive access to the full presentation and simultaneous audio recording.

Online Seminars are available to Jane’s Intelligence Centre, Module and DS Forecast customers for FREE as part of the subscription package – please speak to your local IHS Jane’s representative for more details or REGISTER via the Client Area (login required).