The World Climate and Security Report 2021 is a flagship publication of the International Military Council on Climate and Security (IMCCS), “a group of senior military leaders, security experts, and security institutions across the globe dedicated to anticipating, analyzing, and addressing the security risks of a changing climate.”
The report “warns of the compound security threats posed by the convergence of climate change with other global risks, such as COVID-19”. It signals that climate hazards will stress military and security services worldwide. They will be forced to direct resources into climate-driven crises while facing climate threats to their infrastructure and readiness. In this sense, it calls on global security institutions to act as “leading voices urging significantly reduced greenhouse gas emissions, given recent warnings about the catastrophic security implications of climate change under plausible climate scenarios.”
Regarding these warnings, it points out key risks to monitor in the upcoming scenarios, which are significant or high risks to security under the current circumstances in global affairs. However, it also highlights key opportunities that act as drivers for security cooperation on climate change.
Risks
- Compound Security Threats such as Climate Change, pandemic outbreaks and economic shocks
- Climate Security risks intensified across regions with new disasters and not enough recovery time
- Climate change threats will overstretch militaries around the world
- Adaptation and resilience over climate security solutions not focused on local dynamics will negatively affect other security risks
- The global governance system will face security risks posed by climate change to which is not well prepared
Opportunities
- The United States returned to the international stage as a committed actor on climate issues
- Cooperation between EU and NATO leadership will promote and set an example for defense and security around climate change
- Climate-proofing development for fragile states should be the priority of conflict prevention
- The international community needs to embarce predictive modelling and climate risk assessment methodologies
- Global security institutions must act as leading voices urging for climate action
- States must update and include inInternational law and mechanisms environmental and climate security threats
Moreover, the report also includes summaries of the following publications:
- Climate Security Risk Perception Survey and Capabilities Game
- Climate Security Risk Matrix Methodology
- Assessing Best Practices: The Climate-Security-Triangle
- Regional Climate Security Risk Assessments
- Recommendations for Enabling Collective Global Action
As seen, this security globally-focused assessment of a changing climate is highly focused into offer actionable insights to policymakers to promote urgent action for climate change.
Find the full report here.
