Climate Change Will Impact on US Military

The United States military will be presented with significant obstacles as a result of climate change, according to a recent report published by the New York Times. 

These are set to include how to cope with issues such as drought, storms, pandemics and large-scale people movements, the paper said, referring to comments made by senior figures working within intelligence and within the armed forces.

Impact of Climate Change on Military

Among the prospects in store once climate change really takes hold are governments losing power, terrorist activities heightening and whole regions becoming unstable, it suggested, adding that the situation was prompting military strategists to assess the impact of climate change on military matters like national security  – something they haven’t done before.

Recently carried-out intelligence reports write that, over the coming two or three decades, especially susceptible parts of the world such as the Middle East and lower areas of Africa will potentially endure food shortages, flooding and/or droughts, all of which could demand the arrival of US forces in these areas. 

“It gets real complicated real quickly”, US defence official Amanda Dory was quoted as having said by the New York Times. 

US Military Bases

The US armed forces are particularly prone to suffer the effects of climate change, it said, since a large number of US military bases are sited in areas that could be taken over by rising tides.  1992’s Hurricane Andrew, for example, basically decimated Florida’s Homestead AFB (Air Force Base) while, 12 years later, Hurricane Ivan inflicted serious damage on NAS (Naval Air Station) Pensacola.

As a consequence, military officials are now examining various protection methods to safeguard facilities including Virginia’s NAS Oceana and similar sites in San Diego and other areas.  They are also looking slightly further afield to locations like Diego Garcia, in the Indian Ocean.  Diego Garcia is used by both the UK and US militaries, and lies mere feet above the surrounding waters, making it particularly at risk from climate change. 

In December 2008, the National Defense University simulated how a typical climate change flood would affect a country like Bangladesh, under exercise conditions.  It looked at how issues like mass migration, conflict among disparate religious groups and large-scale physical damage would all be dealt with, according to the Times.

See also:

Should the Military Lead the Change from Oil Dependency? - feature-length coverage from Enviro News discussing the issue of military technologies filtering into the mainstream fight against climate change