American strategic planners have for years viewed climate change as a “threat multiplier”– worsening old conflicts and potentially provoking new clashes over migration and shortages of food and water in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, and opening up new military challenges in a melting Arctic. Climate change has now moved from potential threat to an immediate factor in a wide range of operational and budgeting decisions. “As we think about changing weather patterns we have to think hard about where operations might be conducted and whether we need to change the assumptions about what kind of air breathing conditions ... what kind of sea state we might expect in an operating environment, and what impact they might have.”The report said troops could also be at greater risk of infectious diseases, which spread more rapidly in hotter temperatures. The Pentagon anticipated an increase in humanitarian missions, because of natural disasters and recurring famines.
The defence secretary, Chuck Hagel, will tell a high-level meeting of military leaders at a meeting of more than 30 defence ministers from the Americas and Europe on Monday that the Pentagon is undertaking sweeping changes to operation systems and installations to keep up with a growing threat of rising seas, droughts, and natural disasters caused by climate change. The report acknowledged US military installations and personnel are already exposed to climate change. The Pentagon is not planning a wholesale relocation of bases, the officials told the call. But they said the military was already bringing in sandbags and moving generators out of basements in low-lying areas. It was also shelving ideas for new construction on flood plains.
He also said the Arctic presented a growing military challenge.
“We see an Arctic that is melting, meaning that most likely a new sea lane will emerge,” he said. “We know that there are significant minerals and natural deposits of oil and natural gas there. That means that nations will compete for those natural resources. That’s never been an issue before. You couldn’t get up there and get anything out of there. We have to manage through what those conditions and new realities are going to bring in the way of potential threats.”
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The defence secretary, Chuck Hagel, will tell a high-level meeting of military leaders at a meeting of more than 30 defence ministers from the Americas and Europe on Monday that the Pentagon is undertaking sweeping changes to operation systems and installations to keep up with a growing threat of rising seas, droughts, and natural disasters caused by climate change. The report acknowledged US military installations and personnel are already exposed to climate change. The Pentagon is not planning a wholesale relocation of bases, the officials told the call. But they said the military was already bringing in sandbags and moving generators out of basements in low-lying areas. It was also shelving ideas for new construction on flood plains.
He also said the Arctic presented a growing military challenge.
“We see an Arctic that is melting, meaning that most likely a new sea lane will emerge,” he said. “We know that there are significant minerals and natural deposits of oil and natural gas there. That means that nations will compete for those natural resources. That’s never been an issue before. You couldn’t get up there and get anything out of there. We have to manage through what those conditions and new realities are going to bring in the way of potential threats.”
From here
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