Introduction to the Fall 2010 Issue; Strategic Insights, v. 9, issue 2 (Fall 2010) pp. 1-3

Abstract

This issue of Strategic Insights, explores the fascinating nexus of climate and security. While the jury remains out on the ultimate consequences of climate change, and whether the implications of recent warming trends will be as profound as the more pessimistic scenarios have suggested, military planners and security experts have been considering the potential impacts, and devising mitigative measures in case recent trends continue or accelerate. In the far northern reaches of our planet, earlier seasonal ice melts and brief periods of ice-free conditions in the Arctic Ocean have been a reality for several years, forcing Arctic states and peoples to confront a more pressing imminence of climate security challenges than yet experienced in many other parts of the world. In this issue, we consider both the broader issues of climate change and national security as presented by Daniel Moran in "Climate Change and Climate Politics" and by Daniel Clausen and Michael Clausen in "Situating Climate Security: The Department of Defense's Role in Mitigating Climate Change's Causes and Dealing with its Effects", and also the specific consequences of climate change on the Arctic region, as presented in "Structural, Environmental, and Political Conditions for Security Policy in the High North Atlantic: The Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Iceland" by Rasmus G. Bertelsen, and "Stability and Security in a Post-Arctic World: Toward a Convergence of Indigenous, State and Global Interests at the Top of the World" by Barry S. Zellen.