{"id":318449,"date":"2024-11-07T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-07T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=318449"},"modified":"2024-11-09T16:28:00","modified_gmt":"2024-11-09T16:28:00","slug":"nato-partners-with-nps-for-climate-security-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=318449","title":{"rendered":"NATO Partners with NPS for Climate Security Education"},"content":{"rendered":"
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NATO\u2019s Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE) and NPS collaborated to launch their first Climate Change and Security course on September 23, 2024. The course supported common objectives in the Secretary of the Navy\u2019s Climate Action 2030 strategic plan, as well as the Naval Education Strategy to address common challenges and\u00a0enhance partnerships through opportunities to learn alongside our allies and partners.<\/p>\n

According to scientific attribution studies,\u00a0the record-breaking hot sea surface temperatures that fueled recent hurricanes Helene and Milton\u00a0were both stronger and more destructive to communities in the southeastern United States due to global warming induced climate change. The U.S. is not alone.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s climate disasters like these, occurring across the planet, that make cooperation between international partners and allies more critical than ever when building resiliency and finding sustainable solutions to the global security threats caused by the intensifying worldwide climate crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe weeklong course was designed for mid-career government officials and military officers who are responsible for supporting senior staff in strategic decision-making that addresses climate change and security issues,\u201d said NPS researcher Kristen Fletcher, who helped develop, organize, and co-lead the course for NPS.<\/p>\n

Fletcher, who cofounded the NPS Climate and Security Network, emphasized the importance of the interactions between the attendees.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe course is more than information sharing and analysis of the\u00a0extremely challenging problems that climate change poses to military operations<\/a>,\u201d she said. \u201cIt also creates a strong network for attendees to share experiences, find ongoing support, and continue working together when they return home.\u201d<\/p>\n

In attendance were faculty and participants from 19 countries, which included NATO members Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, U.K. and U.S. Attendees from Australia, Austria and Switzerland, which are NATO partner countries, also participated.<\/p>\n

Paul\u00a0Rushton, the course\u2019s NATO co-lead, serves as the lead for the Climate Change and Security team in NATO\u2019s\u00a0Innovation, Hybrid and Cyber Division (IHC). He believed the course was the first step toward fulfilling crucial needs of the nations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s a huge demand for dedicated climate change and security training, especially with a focus on military and security sector stakeholders,\u201d Rushton said. \u201cThere\u2019s a genuine gap at the moment. We intend to take the lessons that we’ve learned from this course, build on this experience, and use it as part of the foundation for our next courses.\u201d<\/p>\n

On March 7, 2024, Sweden became the newest member of NATO, following Finland, which had become a NATO member in 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are new to NATO, so it’s a great opportunity to learn more about their work,\u201d said Jenny Lund\u00e9n, the head of Branch Capability Development for the Swedish Defense Research Agency. \u201cI think the NATO network and community are very important.\u201d<\/p>\n

As with the other attendees, she sees the impacts of human-made climate change firsthand.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see a shift in the seasons,\u201d she said. \u201cWinter comes later, and summer has become longer. And it\u2019s warmer in the north.\u201d<\/p>\n

A former Arctic ice researcher, Lund\u00e9n continued, \u201cIn supporting future studies for the Swedish armed forces, climate change and security plays an important role because it affects the operation of the military.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the course, content sessions included climate change science, energy security, operational impacts, resiliency, and financial and policy topics. A tabletop exercise also ran throughout the course, allowing participants to break into teams that focused on science and environment, security impacts, human and social impacts, and operational challenges of climate change covering three different regions\u2014the Arctic\/High North, Eastern Flank, and Middle East and North Africa.<\/p>\n

Policy officer Marijana Petrov, who attended from the Czech Republic\u2019s Ministry of Defense, recognized the valuable opportunity for her country to learn more about climate security and to engage with the other nations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve been having a lot of discussions with colleagues from other countries who are steps ahead of where we are. So, it’s very useful for me to hear about their approaches and best practices,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In what\u2019s becoming a frightfully too common severe event around the globe, only 10 days prior to the course,\u00a0extreme rain caused catastrophic flooding in the Czech Republic and the surrounding countries<\/a>, including Germany, Austria, Slovakia and Poland. One Czech town received 435 mm (17 inches) of rainfall over three days, while flooding put another town 80 percent underwater.<\/p>\n

\u201cA priority is defining questions that we need to ask ourselves at the ministry,\u201d Petrov added. \u201cI\u2019m bringing back ideas to set for climate change and security goals, and I hope we can implement them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inadequate or nonexistent climate change and security policies inhibit the ability of the military to meet their operational responsibilities, which threaten the security of nations and global stability.<\/p>\n

A recent law school graduate and\u00a0fellow of the inaugural class of the NPS-Stanford Climate Security Fellowship<\/a>, Rebecca Grippo helped organize the course and presented two sessions related to\u00a0economics, policy, and law.<\/p>\n

\u201cClimate change case law is indicative of policy trends but is also setting them,\u201d Grippo explained. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing a lot that concerns the military right now, so we must have a very good understanding of the policies that govern what the military can and cannot do. This will show what isn\u2019t working well enough and what more needs to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recognizing the importance of collaboration between the Department of Defense (DOD) and NATO allies needed to address the climate crisis, Grippo was excited by the large number of countries in attendance. Joining forces with the Navy, the U.S. Army fielded both faculty and participants.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe focus on what the Army’s impact is on the environment, but also what the environment’s impact is on the Army. So, climate change falls within this realm,\u201d said Army Lt. Col. Matt Horwatt, director of Environmental Security to the Assistant Secretary of the Army, Installations, Energy & Environment (ASA IE&E) and a member of NATO\u2019s Environmental Protection Working Group.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this course, I’m seeing professionals who are looking at climate change and security from all different angles, all different countries, all different positions and all different areas of influence where they can actually make change,\u201d he said. \u201cI think that’s really encouraging. And I think having the tools to help us translate decision making into a form that our senior leaders and policymakers can understand and appreciate is a phenomenal resource.\u201d<\/p>\n

Horwatt is also part of the leadership that started the U.S. Army War College Environmental Security Scholars Program this year. Like the NPS-Stanford Climate Security Fellowship, which started last year and is now beginning its second class, the Army scholars study climate change. In addition, their concentration also encompasses the multifaceted aspects of environmental security needed to maintain or gain strategic advantages.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor too long, the military as a whole has focused on the three B\u2019s\u2014beans, bodies, and bullets. That\u2019s usually what drives resourcing and missions,\u201d said Horwatt. \u201cBut there\u2019s a fourth aspect to consider\u2014the environment. If we’re not taking care of our environment and natural resources, then what are we fighting for? Who are we actually protecting? At the end of the day what we want is to help people and their communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Participants said the curriculum and collaboration were exceptional, and NPS and NATO planners are looking to continue with future climate and security courses in 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NATO\u2019s Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE) and NPS collaborated to launch their first Climate Change and Security course on September 23, 2024. The course supported common objectives in the Secretary of the Navy\u2019s Climate Action 2030 strategic plan, as well as the Naval Education Strategy to address common challenges and\u00a0enhance partnerships through opportunities […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-318449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=318449"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":318451,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318449\/revisions\/318451"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=318449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=318449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=318449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}