NORMAN, OKLA. – The U.S. Department of Defense has published the 2023 Defense Science Board Summer Study on Climate Change and Global Security. The study, chaired by Dr. Eric Evans, Director Emeritus and Fellow, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, and co-led by University of Oklahoma Vice President for Research and Partnerships Tomás Díaz de la Rubia, and USN Vice Admiral (ret.) Michael Franken, recommends a strategy for anticipating global stresses and possible conflicts due to climate change and provides investment priorities for new systems and technology.
“Climate change is one of the most significant threats to global security, intensifying existing global security vulnerabilities, exacerbating regional instabilities and fueling conflict,” Díaz de la Rubia said. “Through this report, we emphasize the need for the U.S. Department of Defense to urgently prepare to operate in a world transformed by these climate-driven challenges.”
The Defense Science Board presents challenges that include preparing for conflicts in newly accessible regions like the Arctic and uninhabitable areas in Africa, as well as flood-prone regions of the Middle East and low-lying areas of South Asia. It warns that climate change could lead to new forms of conflict, such as mass migration and the weaponization of supply chains and essential resources, and suggests that the U.S. can mitigate these risks by enhancing its humanitarian assistance and disaster relief capabilities and engaging in more climate diplomacy.
It also highlights the need to improve U.S. force readiness, infrastructure and base protection in extreme environments, and recommends leveraging advanced climate situational awareness and modeling data sets, techniques and applications to support defense decision-making.
“To effectively navigate future challenges, our report encourages the Department of Defense to establish a dedicated climate planning cell and collaborate with other U.S. agency partners on climate situational awareness, modeling and decision support,” Díaz de la Rubia said. “This proactive approach will enable the DoD to anticipate instability and respond more swiftly to emerging threats.”
Read the full 2023 Defense Science Board Summer Study on Climate Change and Global Security, find the full 40-member Defense Science Board, and learn more about OU’s defense and global security efforts through the Strategic Research Framework.
About the University of Oklahoma
Founded in 1890, the University of Oklahoma is a public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. As the state’s flagship university, OU serves the educational, cultural, economic and health care needs of the state, region and nation. OU was named the state’s highest-ranking university in U.S. News & World Report’s most recent Best Colleges list. For more information about the university, visit ou.edu.
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