CBC News - A cold war in a hotter world: Canada's intelligence sector confronts climate change
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CBC News discusses the national security challenges posed by climate change, and the need for a more proactive approach in identifying and addressing these challenges. Changes in our climate will be the cause of increasing geopolitical instability in the future. One example discussed in the article is the retreat of Arctic sea ice and the increasing international competition for natural resources in the area. Another example is the increasingly severe weather events which increase the frequency of natural disasters. Also consider the geopolitical implications posed by the intermittent opening of the Northwest Passage since the mid-2000s (and the increasing access as Artic sea ice continues to retreat).
Climate change impacts to transnational hydrologic systems and water resources are sure to present national security challenges as well, which is why the Canada 1 Water project is so important. Principal funding for the project is through the Canadian Safety and Security Program, led by Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC)’s Centre for Security Science in partnership with Public Safety Canada. This project will provide keen insights into the vulnerability of our hydrologic systems in terms of climate change, and help policy makers to increase our resilience against these vulnerabilities.
““[Extreme weather events are] becoming not just more widespread, but the impact is quite, quite, quite damaging and quite, quite, quite severe. That does start to have national security implications,” [said Vincent Rigby, former national security adviser to Justin Trudeau].” It’s a threat to our economy. It’s a threat to our social fabric to a certain extent, and it’s a threat to how we deploy our resources.”
Simon Dalby is a professor of geography and environmental studies at Wilfrid Laurier University who researches the intersection of climate change, environmental security and geopolitics. He said Canada’s national security strategy is badly in need of an update to take climate change into account. “The vulnerabilities that are in our society are clearly being exposed by more extreme weather, and we’re not prepared for it,” he said. “We’re in a situation where we need to rethink quite dramatically, looking at both our vulnerabilities in terms of climate change, but also thinking long and hard about what kind of an economy we build that no longer makes us vulnerable.””