Pentagon: Climate Change Poses ‘Immediate Risks’

http://www.climatecentral.org/news/pentagon-climate-change-immediate-risks-18174

October 13th, 2014
By Brian Kahn

The Department of Defense sees climate change as an “immediate” risk and is taking steps to assess those risk and respond to them according to its newly unveiled Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap.

The document, released on Monday, is an update to the agency’s first climate roadmap released in 2012. But rather than being a slight tweak, it provides a major overhaul of how the military views the challenges that climate change poses in the near- and long-term to its training, operations, supply chains and infrastructure around the world.

“This is the strongest language coming out of the Department of Defense we’ve seen. That represents an evolution of how they have been looking at this issue,” said Francesco Femia, co-director of the Center for Climate and Security, a nonpartisan think tank.

In his introduction to the roadmap, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel also referred to climate change as a “threat multiplier” that could increase the risk of disease and conflict in addition to affecting the military’s preparedness and operations.

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That means the Pentagon will have to consider not just how much seas and temperatures will rise or rainfall patterns will shift. It will also have to consider the cascading effects those changes will have on health, landscapes and society itself. Some research already points to how mosquito-borne diseases could become more prevalent, how climate change could increase the odds of conflict and how receding Arctic sea ice could open up a resource rush.

The Department of Defense has been thinking about climate change for years, with a heavy focus on how it could affect the $850 billion in infrastructure the department operates around the world as well as the long-term effects it could have.

A report earlier this year from the Government Accountability Office also found that military installations across the U.S. are already dealing with climate change impacts including rising seas, melting permafrost and more extreme precipitation. The report looked at 15 installations in the U.S. but there are more than 500 major bases worldwide and thousands of other installations, all of which face risks from climate change that could undermine readiness according to the new roadmap.

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https://www.scribd.com/doc/242845848/Read-DoD-report-2014-Climate-Change-Adaptation-Roadmap

Department of Defense
FY 2014 Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap

Climate change will affect the Department of Defense's ability to defend the Nation and poses immediate risks to U.S. national security. The Department is responding to climate change in two ways: adaptation, or efforts to plan for the changes that are occurring or expected to occur; and mitigation, or efforts that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

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POLICY FRAMEWORK FOR CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION PLANNING
The foundation for the Department’s strategic policy on climate change adaptation began with the publication of the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) in 2010 by the Secretary of Defense. The QDR articulates the United States’ national defense strategy and seeks to adapt, shape and rebalance our military to prepare for the strategic challenges and opportunities we face in the years ahead. The 2010 QDR recognized that climate change was a threat to national security and the 2014 QDR reaffirms the Department’s position: “The impacts of climate change may increase the frequency, scale, and complexity of future missions, including Defense Support to Civil Authorities (DSCA), while at the same time undermining the capacity of our domestic installations to support training activities.”

The third National Climate Assessment notes that certain types of weather events have become more frequent and/or intense, including heat waves, heavy downpours, and, in some regions, floods and droughts. Sea levels are rising, oceans are becoming more acidic, and glaciers and arctic sea ice are melting. Scientists predict that these changes will continue and even increase in frequency or duration over the next 100 years.

These climate-related effects are already being observed at installations throughout the U.S. and overseas and affect many of the Department’s activities and decisions related to future operating environments, military readiness, stationing, environmental compliance and stewardship, and infrastructure planning and maintenance.

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