Climate change is real: we see its impacts every day, around the world. A melting Arctic, unprecedented droughts across the world, extreme examples of flooding, and uncontrollable wildfires are all examples of the changing climate.

These present a greater challenge than just new and different weather patterns: it will challenge the world’s security architecture to prepare for and adapt to new security challenges, like disaster response, food security, and water availability.

In Brief

• The climate influences people’s everyday lives, from what they eat to where they live.
• Changes in the climate are becoming more identifiable every year: the Earth is warming at a faster rate than ever before and humans have played a major role in the change
• Although there are political arguments questioning the science, they do not hold up under close examination.
• Climate change will affect different regions in different ways.
• Environmental threats blur traditional notion of national security: secure states do not automatically mean secure peoples and climate change is proving that.
• Climate change, food security, water security and communicable diseases are examples of such non-traditional threats that require non-traditional responses.
• The U.S. must be resilient to potential large-scale variations in weather that will affect not only our country but our economic and physical security.
• Climate change is a risk to global security because it increases vulnerability in infrastructure, agriculture, energy and other economic factors.

See other Sections of report here

Climate Security Report: Part One Climate Change and Security

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