Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
tempering climate risks. While traces of the
mentality have seeped into
European planning, policy changes fall well short of any wholesale or qualitative
shift in defence strategies.
'
lifeboat
'
Accepting climate security?
In a generic sense, European militaries have increasingly bought into the climate
security agenda, despite it not constituting a traditional form of threat. The EU
Military Sta
has stepped up cooperation with the US Department of Defense.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization
s)
2010 Strategic Concept
mentions climate security as a key concern for the alliance
'
'
s
(NATO
'
sfutureremit.Its
'
ned to include climate-preparedness.
2
Yet,
all militaries grapple with the question of how much priority to attach to climate
relative to other aspects of security. They have incorporated the language and
logic of climate security, but struggle to fully integrate this issue into their stra-
tegic planning.
A number of European armed forces have engaged seriously with the climate
security agenda. Cooperation between European militaries on this issue is said to be
better than on most other defence and security questions. The UK in particular has
incorporated climate planning into its defence policy and introduced a more sys-
tematic coverage of climate change into its military sta
'
smart defence
concept has been de
colleges.
3
An in
uential
agenda-framing role was played by rear admiral Neil Morisetti, as the UK
s climate
and energy security envoy (until 2013 when he was appointed as the government
'
'
s
overall climate envoy).
In 2010 Sweden
s Ministry of Defence commissioned a strategy on how Sweden
should adjust its national security and defence strategies to counter
'
'
new and real
threats
icts relating to
the more aggressive development of natural resources by major powers in the
Arctic region. The aim was to provide improved early warning and allow for better
preplanning, for military crisis management operations and national defence readi-
ness. The defence minister admitted:
'
, such as possible security tensions that may emerge from con
It is often said that there is a clear link between climate change and con
ict
as the natural resources base shrinks. However, there is relatively little
research that deepens understanding of this, and we need more robust
research to build systems that provide better early warning and preplanning.
This applies to both civil and military crisis management operations.
4
In its 2011 strategy document
Security, the Energy Model and Climate Change
, the
Spanish Ministry of Defence committed itself to promoting further awareness of
