US government report cites climate change as a threat to military base readiness

Liz Klimas in the Blaze: The government has already considered the threat that climate change could pose to the military’s operations, but its latest report reveals “actual impacts” that could be indicative of what installations could face as a result of global warming.

Officials from the Government Accountability Office visited Department of Defense sites and noted examples where the effects of climate change could impact its “readiness” and leave the military vulnerable.

 “For example, according to DOD officials, the combination of thawing permafrost, decreasing sea ice, and rising sea levels on the Alaskan coast has increased coastal erosion at several Air Force radar early warning and communication installations,” the GAO noted. “Impacts on DOD’s infrastructure from this erosion have included damaged roads, seawalls and runways. In addition, officials on a Navy installation told GAO that sea level rise and resulting storm surge are the two largest threats to their waterfront infrastructure. For instance, they are concerned about possible storm surge during work on a submarine that will be cut in half while sitting in a dry dock. Officials explained that if salt water floods the submarine’s systems, it could result in severe damage.”

The GAO acknowledged in its video that any single weather event cannot necessarily be linked to climate change, but it said that these events can give “insight into the potential climate-related vulnerabilities.”

The report —Climate Change Adaptation: DOD Can Improve Infrastructure Planning and Processes to Better Account for Potential Impacts  — said that the DOD has already begun to assess the vulnerability of installations against the potential impact of climate change and what could be one to adapt to these effects. But the GAO wrote the defense department could face limitations in that some of its plans are not fully developed and such projects are rarely proposed as military construction projects....

George C. Scott as General Buck Turgidson in Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove

Climate change a 'threat multiplier' for Australia's military

ABC News (Australia): A new report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) says the military is not doing enough planning to cope with the problem of climate change. The study, titled Heavy Weather, found climate change was not being considered by the Defence Department in its national and regional strategic scoping, despite the potential regional instability caused by rising sea levels, migration pressures, and the spread of infectious diseases.

ASPI deputy director Antony Bergin says the ADF has already been stretched by a spate of weather-related domestic disasters such as bushfires and floods, and should be factoring in how it will deal with simultaneous extreme weather events at home and in the region.

"The military are very used to responding to a whole range of factors that impact on military operations, whether it be population, whether it be technology, whether it be economics," he said. "This report argues that climate change is simply another factor. Every Christmas now we see the military deployed to floods and bushfires in Australia.

 "The ADF of course have been heavily involved in deploying to regional disasters, but one of the points that the report makes is that Defence will need to factor in concurrent disasters. While we've been pretty good at dealing with offshore disasters without anything happening on the home front, I think we're now going to see the ADF really stretched in dealing with extreme weather events in the region and at home."...

The Pentagon and climate change

Rafe Sagarin in the Arizona Republic: While the international community repeatedly stalls on taking meaningful action about climate change, there is one internationally focused organization that isn't waiting around -- the U.S. Department of Defense.

The generals and admirals there already see how climate change is affecting their operations and their strategic planning. The Navy sees melting ice caps as both a threat to security and an opportunity for increased mobility. The Marines see rising sea levels and increased coastal storm activity as complications to amphibious landing plans. Army and Air Force training on land and in the air are affected by the devastating wildfires that have been ravaging the western U.S.

The Southwest region of the U.S. in particular is a critical zone for Defense Department readiness, providing large land areas for its installations and a climate amenable to year-round exercises on land, sea and air.

But this region faces a wide range of likely interacting threats from climate change -- including higher temperatures in an already hot area, increased severity of droughts and floods, radically altered fire regimes and sea-level rise on the California coast -- that make it particularly important to train Defense Department managers on how to prepare for and adapt to the changing operational environment. The department got a preview of this in summer 2011 when Arizona's Monument Fire burned right up to the doorstep of the Army's Fort Huachuca. In short, the Southwest presents an intensified suite of climate-change impacts that Defense Department facilities are likely to experience.

Researchers from a wide range of fields at the University of Arizona -- from computer climate modeling and fire ecology to hydrology and social sciences -- have recently been selected by the Defense Department to help managers at Southwestern Defense facilities understand the risks they face with a changing climate and learn how to adapt to these risks. In a way, our approach is just a modern version of the agricultural extension model that was developed for land-grant universities such as UA. In this case, instead of working with farmers and sharing the latest crop-science research, we are working with base commanders sharing the latest regional climate-change information....

George C. Scott as General Buck Turgidson in Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove, Columbia Pictures, public domain

Climate change in Philippines now serious matter for Church, military

The Inquirer News (Philippines): Religious, military and government leaders are one in saying that Filipinos should now be more proactive in caring for the environment to combat the ill-effects of climate change.

“We now have to pay attention to climate change,” Davao Archbishop Fernando Capalla told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in the aftermath of Tuesday’s flashflood that killed at least 30 people in four villages here. “Some people don’t believe it’s coming. The balance of the environment is now disturbed and so we have flashflood, tornadoes,” Capalla said.

The prelate said he would write a pastoral letter encouraging people to plant trees “because our survival depends on it. Even the rich will not survive if we don’t have environmental protection,” he said.

He also appealed to subdivision developers to refrain from cutting trees, which help absorb water. While admitting that the city is helpless against flashfloods, Mayor Sara Duterte said residents living in low-lying areas should now start “to fortify their houses and even elevate these” against flooding.

She said the local government was addressing the problem of flooding but would need the cooperation of the community...

Guam, protecting reefs from the US Navy

Islands Business: Guam Governor Felix P. Camacho summed it up best when he said that the US military buildup “is the largest threat to coral reefs” on his island. Other Micronesian islands echoed his sentiment, which helped set the tone at the 2010 US Coral Reef Taskforce Meeting held on Saipan from September 15 and 16.

The US Coral Reef Taskforce is one of the foremost policy groups guiding national and international coral reef conservation. Among the major projects related to the military buildup in Guam that will impact coral reefs is a deep-draft wharf for transiting aircraft carriers.

The US Navy earlier chose the Polaris Point in Guam’s Apra Harbor as its preferred site for a carrier berth. But the Record of Decision for the Guam and CNMI military buildup’s final environmental impact statement, signed on September 21, noted that the Navy had deferred making a decision on a specific location for a transient CVN berth in Apra Harbor and voluntarily collected additional data on marine resources in the two alternative site locations.

Camacho asked the US Coral Reef Taskforce to help Guam come up with the best possible mitigation strategies for its coral reefs during the military buildup. “The members have the ability to direct resources to this important and urgent task, and techniques and strategies developed for Guahan could have future uses in other locations facing major development as well,” he said.

But Capt. Peter S. Lynch, commanding officer of the US Naval Facilities Engineering Command, said it’s not only the military buildup that’s impacting coral reefs, citing runoff from a construction site or wastewater treatment that’s not properly treated could create algae plumes….

Climate change challenges US military

Kevin Furey in the Billings Gazette (Montana): As a veteran of the Iraq war, I make an effort to keep track of national-security news. That’s why I read with interest the stories about the Department of Defense’s recently released Quadrennial Defense Review, a congressionally mandated assessment of the strategic threats facing the U.S. now and in the future.

One of the conclusions in the QDR was both groundbreaking and sobering: Climate change will play a “significant role in shaping the future security environment,” and it will be an “accelerant of instability or conflict.” This is the first time the DOD has officially recognized climate change as a serious national security issue.

…Scientists predict that many natural disasters, such as hurricanes, floods and droughts, will be stronger, more common and pervasive because of climate change. A report by the U.N. Environment Program states that global warming will lead to “major changes in precipitation patterns on the (African) continent, which could lead to food shortages and increased desertification.” Another study identified India, Bangladesh, China, Vietnam and Indonesia as countries with large populations in low-lying coastal areas that are vulnerable to sea-level rise caused by global warming.

We will also face an increased risk of armed conflict. As retired Marine Corps General Anthony Zinni has put it, “It’s not hard to make the connection between climate change and instability, or climate change and terrorism.” “We ignore these facts at the peril of our national security and at great risk to those in uniform who serve this nation,” said former U.S. Sen. John Warner, who now works with the Pew Project on National Security, Energy and Climate….

A US soldier from the Nemesis troop conceals himself with a smoke screen after an improvised explosive device hits one of his regiment's vehicles, October 2007, Baghdad, Iraq. Photo by Luke Thornberry

Pentagon review to address climate change for the first time

Roxana Tiron in the Hill: The Pentagon is addressing climate change for the first time in its sweeping review of military strategy. The Pentagon is set to release the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) on Monday, along with the 2011 budget request. In the review, Pentagon officials conclude that climate change will act as an “accelerant of instability and conflict,” ultimately placing a burden on civilian institutions and militaries around the world.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.), a key architect of Senate climate plans, was the first to draw attention to the significance of climate change in the QDR. Kerry said last week that the QDR will list climate change as a security problem that could claim U.S. lives.

“I will tell you that the defense review of the United States Pentagon next week is going to come out and list climate change for the first time as an instability factor that affects our troops and may in fact wind up costing us lives down the road,” Kerry said at a forum hosted by labor, business, veteran and other groups backing climate legislation.

…The Defense Department also acknowledges in the draft QDR that climate change will affect the military’s operating environment, roles and missions. Climate-related changes include heavy downpours; rising temperature and sea level; rapidly retreating glaciers; thawing permafrost; and lengthening ice-free seasons in oceans, lakes or rivers.

Assessments conducted by the intelligence community indicate that climate change will have significant geopolitical impacts around the world, contributing to poverty, environmental degradation and weakening of fragile governments, according to the draft QDR document….

The Arctic Thunder Air Show 2004 poster, featured nationally in Flyers Magazine, designed at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, on Feb. 18, 2005. (U.S. Air Force Graphic Illustration by Senior Airman Miguel Lara III)

Hurricane Hunters prep for upcoming storm season

United States Air Force: Members of the Air Force Reserve Command's 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron deployed to their detachment here recently to fly training missions over the Caribbean in preparation for the 2009 hurricane season. Unit Airmen are part of the 403rd Wing located at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., and are the only Department of Defense unit flying into tropical storms and hurricanes collecting critical data.

During the next months, until Nov. 30, the Hurricane Hunters will be honing their skills in special WC-130J Hercules aircraft, ready to fly when called upon by people in the liaison office at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Hurricane Center in Miami. The Airmen are the only ones in the Air Force authorized to fly in thunderstorms,

"We can be deployed within 16 hours after the call (from the NOAA liaison office)," said Lt. Col. Louis Patriquin, the 403rd Operations Group commander.

Their mission is to collect storm data and send to the hurricane center for forecasters to plug into computer models for better forecasting predictions. According to AFRC officials, one hurricane mission can pay for itself and more by the money it saves in unnecessary coastal evacuations. For example, officials estimate that it costs about $1 million to evacuate the residents of a single coastal mile.

If the 53rd WRS Airmen can reduce the evacuation area by 100 miles, the squadron's entire flying budget is covered by one hurricane. Money and lives also are saved by not evacuating people who aren't in the storm's path. Evacuating people can cause deaths, not just from the storm, according to Bill Reid, National Weather Service director. Pinpointing accurate landfall is paramount for all…

A Hurricane Hunter touring the eye of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, NOAA

TERI chief says Indian Army's biggest enemy is climate change

Sify News: Dr. R.K. Pachauri, Director General of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), has warned the Indian Army that climate change could prove to be their biggest enemy, as melting snow could open a new passage for terrorists.

"Climate change poses new threats to India. Melting snows in the north open up passages for terrorists, just as melting glaciers affect water supply in the subcontinent's northern part, sharpening possibility of conflict with our neighbours. Changing rainfall patterns affect rain fed agriculture, worsening poverty which can be exploited by others," Dr. Pachauri said while delivering the keynote address at the convocation ceremony at the Military College of Telecommunication Engineering, Mhow.

He cautioned that climate change might force millions of 'climate refugees' across India's border, posing a new challenge to nation's armed forces. "Our defence forces might find themselves torn between humanitarian relief operations and guarding our borders against climate refugees, as rising sea-levels swamp low-lying areas, forcing millions of 'climate refugees' across India's border," he added….

Gaumukh (Cow's mouth), the end of Gangotri glacier, start of Bhagirathi River in Uttarakhand, India, shot by Atarax42, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0, Attribution ShareAlike 2.5, Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 and Attribution ShareAlike 1.0 License.

New US military report on global warming raises worry

Boston Globe: A new US military report has come under scrutiny for asserting that the scientific data on what is causing global warming is "contradictory" - a position one leading specialist said indicates the government still hasn't fully embraced the urgency of climate change.

The long-range planning document, published Thursday by the US Joint Forces Command in Norfolk, Va., which is responsible for developing blueprints for future military strategy, is intended to provide a "basis for thinking about the world a quarter of a century from now."

But a section of the 56-page report on climate change and natural disasters prompted criticism yesterday from some leading specialists who said that spreading the inaccurate perception that the causes of climate change remain an open question could result in government agencies not taking the issue seriously enough.

The report, titled Joint Operating Environment 2008, states that "the impact of global warming and its potential to cause natural disasters and other harmful phenomena such as rising sea levels has become a prominent - and controversial - national and international concern. Some argue that there will be more and greater storms and natural disasters, others that there will be fewer." It adds: "In many respects, scientific conclusions about the causes and potential effects of global warming are contradictory."

…"It's very wrong," said Kerry Emanuel, a professor of atmospheric science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology whose work was cited in the military report. "The jury is not out" on what is causing global warming, he added. "I don't know where that statement came from, but it's pretty bizarre." Emanuel also took issue with the report's assertions about future storm intensity. "Everyone pretty much agrees that the intensity of events could go up with global warming, although we argue how much," he said in an interview….

A US Democratic presidential candidate in 1864, George Brinton McClellan, is lampooned as an incompetent military leader. The artist shows McClellan viewing the battle through a telescope from his safe perch, urging, "Fight on my brave Soldiers and push the enemy to the wall, from this spanker boom your beloved General looks down upon you."

World military leaders meet in Paris to discuss role in fighting climate change

Mongabay: Acknowledging the security threats posed by global warming as well as past successes in controlling emissions of ozone-depleting compounds, military leaders from around the world will convene next week in Paris, France for "The Importance of Military Organizations in Protecting the Climate: 2008". The officials will be joined by a panel of climate experts.

The workshop seeks to present a forum to discuss the role that military organizations can play in protecting climate and build a case for military leadership on the issue. The aim may be a fitting one given that global military forces are a giant source of carbon dioxide emissions. For example the Department of Defense is the largest energy consumer in the U.S, accounting for about 1 percent of national energy consumption and 78 percent of the federal government’s energy use. In 2007 alone, the U.S. military in Iraq used more than 1.1 billion gallons of fuel.

"With climate change threatening to disrupt many aspects of society in the near future, including national security, it is imperative we enlist [military organizations'] help to overcome this global problem," said Durwood Zaelke, Director of the International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement, a group that is promoting the meeting….

Roger Fenton took this photo of General Brown seated, and officers of the Light Division, most standing.

US Navy sonar and whale strandings

George Mason University: Earlier this summer, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review a series of lower court rulings that restrict the Navy's use of sonar in submarine detection training exercises off the coast of Southern California. The court is due to hear the case after its term begins again this month.

For many years, professor Chris Parsons has been tracking the patterns of mass whale strandings around the world. In his most recent paper, "Navy Sonar and Cetaceans: Just how much does the gun need to smoke before we act?" Parsons and his co-authors bring together all of the major whale and dolphin strandings in the past eight years and discuss the different kinds of species that have been affected worldwide. They also strongly argue for stricter environmental policies related to this issue.

"Generally, if there is a large whale stranding, there is a military exercise in the area," says Parsons. "Sonar is killing more whales than we know about." …Though Parsons believes that there is a good chance the U.S. Supreme Court will rule in favor of the Navy, he thinks there is a chance for a win-win situation on both sides.

"If the Navy uses proper mitigation efforts, it can still perform its exercises and affect less of the whale population," he says. However, he argues they need to avoid sensitive areas completely, and have trained, experienced whale experts as lookouts when performing these exercises—"not just someone who has watched a 45-minute DVD, which is sadly the only training most naval lookouts get with respect to finding and detecting whales."

Fin whale seen from the air, NOAA