“Water is a huge problem, as you all know, in Pakistan and Afghanistan. And Tajikistan has one of the greatest water potentials in the world. . . we have got a water resources task force now set up in the Department to examine how we can additionally help the countries of the area, and particularly Pakistan with the water issue.”
Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke, Briefing on his Recent Trip to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Central Asia, Georgia and Germany, March 2, 2010.
This weekend’s natural security news seems to have been lighter than it has been in recent weeks. However, one common report appearing in The New York Times and Scientific American on the Interior Department’s recently released study, The State of the Birds: 2010 Report on Climate Change, is worth mentioning.
As Scientific American reports, “climate changes will have ‘an increasingly disruptive effect on bird species in all habitats.’ Oceanic migratory species and birds living in Hawaii will face the greatest threats, according to the report [The State of the Birds].”
Some of you may be wondering how this relates to U.S. national security. I think Kenneth Rosenberg, Director of Conservation Science at Cornell University’s Lab of Ornithology, captures the connection well: “Birds are excellent indicators of the health of our environment, and right now they are telling us an important story about climate change,” he told The New York Times. “Many species of conservation concern will face heightened threats, giving us an increased sense of urgency to protect and conserve vital bird habitat.”
We have reported before on the link between biodiversity and national security in our work here. Indeed, “Biodiversity loss is likely to be highly destabilizing, in that it will constrain access to a full range of natural resources, including food and potable water. Some of the drivers of biodiversity loss, such as poverty and poor governance, can also be drivers of instability, conflict, and insurgencies.” And when it comes to the impacts of climate change on birds, the classic canary in the coal mine comes to mind.
This Week’s Events
On Tuesday, the House Committee on Science & Technology Subcommittee on Investigation and Oversight will be holding a hearing on Rare Earth Minerals and 21st Century Industry at 2:00 p.m. On Wednesday, CATO will be holding an event on how Russia’s energy resources have shaped its social order beginning at 4:00 p.m. Finally, the Wilson Center will be holding an event Thursday on Building a Smarter Grid: Challenges and Opportunities for the United States and Canada starting at 9:00 a.m.
The New York Times features a story about a private company’s report claiming that oil demand in developed countries has been declining since 2005. Meanwhile, Forbes sees an imminent fall in oil prices due to weak demand.
The Washington Post explores local efforts to foster a clean-energy industry.
The Philippines appear to be preparing for the consequences of future disasters—like the recent devastating floods—by importing more rice reserves to ensure food security, according to Business Week.
The Los Angeles Times profiles efforts to bring the Mountain Pass rare earth element mine back online—efforts that have become high profile lately due to concerns over China's potential control of the rare earth market.
A Scientific American story on China's hydropower ambitions demonstrates some of the tradeoffs associated with renewable energy: the proposed dams may end up threatening unique fish species and ultimately releasing damaging methane into the air.
Tune in to C-SPAN this morning at 9 a.m. to watch Sharon Burke, Vice President for Natural Security, on the Washington Journal.
The Washington Post does an interesting snapshot of how wildlife and war have intertwined in Sudan; the good news is that many animals are returning to now more-peaceful areas, which could help spur some economic growth.
India is changing course on climate change, according to a New York Times analysis. (This reminds us of the results of CNAS's climate change future scenario exercise last year.)
In Nigeria, leading rebels who are responsible for many attacks on the country’s oil infrastructure have agreed to an amnesty agreement in exchange for education and money, BBC reports. However, some are not sure if the amnesty agreements have been effective, according to the The New York Times.
The Philippines are suffering from yet another storm, as Typhoon Parma has caused more flooding and may double back and hit the islands again, according to a BBC report. This has raised doubts about political leadership in Manila, Bulatlat, a Philippine paper, reports.
The U.S. military has been busy distributing aid to the Samoans and have been pulling forces from across the region to help those in the Philippines, The Army Times and the Marine Corps Times report. The Air Force reports that it is also sending two C-17s to assist in Indonesia.
At the intersection of water, energy, and biodiversity sits the Three Gorges Dam, seen here from space at the bottom right. The largest hydroelectric dam in the world—or electricity-generating plant of any kind, for that matter—the Three Gorges facility spans the Yangtze River, staves of downstream flooding, and will generate almost 20,000 megawatts when fully completed in 2011. The dam was constructed to help satiate China’s growing demand for energy. However, the construction represents a massive perturbation of the region’s ecology, which government officials have ceded will suffer dramatic losses to biodiversity and increased vulnerability to disaster. The ecological changes will likely destabilize livelihoods in the region, even as China attempts to employ hydroelectric power as a means of ensuring economic and national security.
Photo: New upstream reservoirs have filled up behind the Three Gorges Dam, causing environmental degradation and forcing hundreds of thousands of Chinese to migrate. Courtesy of the Earth Observatory at NASA.
Reading Old Magazines this week will be short and sweet: a brief tale of two seemingly unremarkable Time magazine articles that appear to have had undue influence on two members (including the chairman) of the Senate Foreign
Yesterday the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing on “Climate Change and Global Security: Challenges, Threats, and Diplomatic Opportunities.” (CNAS Veep and Natural Security Blogger Sharon Burke testified, and may share her insights here later.) I thought one of the most important comments of the day came from Senator John Kerry in his opening remarks:
…climate change injects a major new source of chaos, tension, and human insecurity into an already volatile world. It threatens to bring more famine and drought, worse pandemics, more natural disasters, more resource scarcity, and human displacement on a staggering scale. Places only too familiar with the instability, conflict, and resource competition that often create refugees and IDPs, will now confront these same challenges with an ever growing population of EDPs—environmentally displaced people. We risk fanning the flames of failed-statism, and offering glaring opportunities to the worst actors in our international system. In an interconnected world, that endangers all of us.
This is an important point, often the focus for our program and others like it, quite different from the academic argument concerning
