CLIMate Change, global SECurity and future operations (CLIMSEC) - a Mulltinational Capability Development Campaign (MCDC) project

CLIMSEC has a two-part problem statement, where the first part informs the second:

1. What are the most significant new global security threats and opportunities that could occur as a consequence of climate change? 

2. What are the direct operational consequences of climate change in terms of the efficacy and viability of different types of military and other measures?

The project is divided into three sub-groups, each covering a specific theme related to the above problem statements:

1. Sustainability and mitigation of climate effects on infrastructure and personnel: The MCDC could contribute to this discussion by developing assessment guidelines for climate impacts on military infrastructure, equipment, and personnel, as well as contributing to the development of technologies that help mitigate these adverse effects.  

2. Climate change and demand for military capabilities for disaster relief and stabilization missions: States with the least adaption capacities are also some of the most affected by climate change. Thus, military planning must consider the increasing demand for disaster relief, humanitarian interventions and stabilization missions. 

3. The role of climate change in interstate conflicts/ regional power competition: How will climate change influence traditional security concerns? There is probably no empirical evidence for a heightened probability of climate wars in the future. Nevertheless, the additional pressure of climate change could increase tension between states, for example, in the arctic region. In this area, MCDC should consider a regional analysis to examine the specific causal relationship between climate change and regional power competition. 

In the CLIMSEC project there are participants from Canada, Denmark France, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Germany, USA and Austria. NUPI's role is both to lead the international project and to contribute with professional experts in three sub-projects. 

About the MCDC program:

The Multinational Capability Development Campaign (MCDC) is a program with a partnership of 24 countries and international organizations (IGO) designed to develop and assess nonmateriel (non-weaponry) force development solutions. This is done through collaborative multinational efforts, to meet present and future operational needs associated with conducting joint, multinational and coalition operations. It contributes to multinational interoperability by identifying and evaluating potential solutions to multinational capability gaps. MCDC focuses on multinational force development with a global community of interest made up of both traditional and non-traditional partners. Currently the MCDC program community consists of: Australia, Austria, Canada, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, European Union-European Defence Agency, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, NATO-Allied Command Transformation (ACT), The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Republic of Korea, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States.