Description
The unfolding climate crisis affects a wide range of military concerns. Evidence is mounting that climate breakdown is threatening lives, disrupting food and water supplies, impacting health, impairing livelihoods, damaging homes, and displacing large numbers of people. Scholars and practitioners have warned repeatedly that this deepening crisis is exacerbating the risk of instability and violence. The direct impact of climate change on military preparedness and operations has also warranted attention, while more recently, there is a growing understanding that militaries cannot continue to burn vast amounts of fossil fuels if climate change and national net zero commitments are to be kept, and the worst-case security scenarios avoided.
This roundtable brings together a diverse group of scholars to discuss ways to develop a more holistic and inclusive approach to addressing the implications of climate breakdown for defence and security: one which combines emerging concerns about climate change a potential ‘threat multiplier’, with an appreciation that efforts to adapt and mitigate will fundamentally transform the ways in which militaries operate, what kinds of missions they are tasked with, what types of capabilities they need, and when and where they deploy.
