Yellow Card: Global Food Crisis Underscores Need for Systemic Security

By Brigitte Hugh In January 2022, food prices were already higher than normal. Pandemic-driven supply chain and labor complications combined with intensifying climate hazards had negatively affected global food availability. Then Russia invaded Ukraine, which has drastically reduced grain exports…

Do Not Underestimate the Links Between Climate Change and Conflict, Experts Warn

General Tom Middendorp (ret.), Chair of the International Military Council on Climate and Security (IMCCS), is one of more than a dozen leaders in the fields of climate science, peacebuilding, and security to have endorsed a joint statement released on…

A Case Study in the Environmental Risks of War: Kyiv Hydroelectric Power Plant

Kyiv Hydroelectric Power Plant in Vyshgorod, Ukraine. Source: Kiyanka By Richard Marcantonio The risks of warfare are complex. Beyond the often-devastating immediate humanitarian implications of large-scale violence, warfare’s impact on the broader environment is multifaceted, posing environmental, social, political, economic,…

CSR Receives Major Grant to Address the Rising Risks of Nuclear Conflict

Part of the impetus to launch the Council on Strategic Risks (CSR) was our concern that catastrophic risks were rising. The global security environment is experiencing monumental strains, including from the weakening of long-held norms, clear violations of the rules-based…

A Recipe for Perpetual Insecurity? The Case of a Syrian Protected Area

By Peter Schwartzstein As snapshots of Syria’s environmental degradation go, Jebel Abdelaziz, in the northeastern part of the country, is hard to beat. The mountain’s rocky flanks offer little for livestock. The semi-arid surrounding plain offers little for man or…

The Use of Climate as a Scapegoat for Governance Abuses and Failures – and Why That’s a Problem

Lake Assad and the Tabaqah Dam By Peter Schwartzstein Getting environmental officials to expound on their countries’ crises can be futile in much of the Middle East and North Africa (and well beyond). These officials might not want to talk…

Report Highlight: Climate Security and the Strategic Energy Pathway in South Asia

By Sarang Shidore, Rachel Fleishman and Dr. Marc Kodack Climate change is not just an environmental issue in South Asia; it is also a major security concern. When overlaid with pre-existing domestic distress and inter-state rivalries that roil the region,…

The Complexity of the Climate Change, Migration and Conflict Nexus

Reuters/Rodi Said By Dr. Marc Kodack Researchers are actively assessing the interactions between climate/environmental change and migration (here) and, climate change, migration, and conflict (here and here) to increase our understanding of the diverse effects that climate change will have on populations around…