Climate Threats

An international coalition of military officials is pushing for the adoption of an ambitious climate-change treaty to keep national security threats from impacting global warming, Defense Environment Alert reports this week.

The action could add new life to upcoming global talks amid waning expectations that an agreement can be reached this year.

While the group's argument is not new, it could also spur momentum for aggressive emission-reduction targets by demonstrating a growing international consensus on the security threats from climate change, an argument made by proponents of legislation about the rising costs of inaction on climate change, DEA reports.

Specifically:

The coalition, which includes both retired and active military officials as well as a U.S.-based national security think tank, is making its pitch as national delegations are preparing to meet in Copenhagen in December to negotiate a successor to the Kyoto climate treaty, and as the Senate begins to consider climate legislation -- with advocates of the bill similarly linking climate change to national security impacts.

The coalition’s Military Advisory Council (MAC), which comprises former and active general and flag officers from various countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, India and the Netherlands, issued a position statement Oct. 29 to parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), aimed at drawing support for a treaty based on the reasoning that global warming, left unchecked, poses national security threats.

The position statement also calls for countries to weave security impacts from climate change into individual defense strategies and to curb their militaries’ carbon emissions.

The Center for Naval Analyses (CNA), a prominent U.S-based think tank, is one of several research groups, including the Institute for Environmental Security, backing the effort by the MAC.

The MAC in its statement to the UNFCCC delegates says climate change will cause significant “human misery,” biodiversity loss and infrastructure damage with resulting security implications. It calls on delegates to the UNFCCC to develop “an ambitious and equitable” international treaty at Copenhagen. It also asks that all governments integrate the security implications of climate change into their respective military strategies, and that all militaries help resolve climate change by lowering their own carbon “bootprint.”

If the delegates fail to “deliver an effective and institutionally robust climate protection system, preserving security and stability even at current levels will become increasingly difficult,” the statement reads.

MAC members said at a follow-up press conference following release of the position statement that examples of ways in which governments can integrate security implications of climate change into their military strategies include the work the Defense Department is now doing to include climate effects in its Quadrennial Defense Review. Other measures that could be taken include predicting regional impacts of changes, assisting planning programs to avoid or mitigate climate change, and conducting disaster planning and training, members said.