The U.S. State Department has just released its “2014 U.S. Climate Action Report to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.” As announced on the official website:
"On January 1, 2014, the Department of State submitted the 2014 U.S. Climate Action Report to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This report, which includes the First U.S. Biennial Report and Sixth U.S. National Communication to the UNFCCC, details actions the United States is taking domestically and internationally to mitigate, adapt to, and assist others in addressing climate change. The 2014 U.S. Climate Action Report fulfills requirements under the UNFCCC for all Parties to report periodically on actions and progress in combating climate change. The last U.S. Climate Action Report submitted was in 2010. Over the course of 2014, UNFCCC Parties will provide their first biennial reports: developed countries are to provide theirs by January 1, 2014 and developing countries are to provide biennial update reports by the end of the year."
The report can be found here, 2014 U.S. Climate Action Report to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. For our readers, we have excerpted sections of the report below that explicitly highlight climate change as a national security concern. The concepts of “risk” and “preparedness,” that are central to an understanding of the national security implications of a changing climate, are also embedded throughout the report (as are energy, food and water security), but for clarity, we are only including excerpts that explicitly mention climate change as a matter of “U.S. national security.” Mentions of U.S. national security appear most frequently in sections dedicated to vulnerability, adaptation and research, and systematic observations.
From the “First US Biennial Report” portion of the report:
For the complete article, please see The Center for Climate and Security.
It’s official: India has been elected as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for 2021-22. Previously, the country has adopted a cautionary approach towards climate security. While it may not significantly shift its positions, global realities may trigger more openness, with an eye on multilateralism, rule of law and fairness.
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Insecurity is plaguing north-western Nigeria, due to persistent herder-farmer tensions, rising crime and infiltration by Islamist militants. Federal and state authorities should focus on resolving conflict between agrarian and pastoralist communities, through dialogue and resource-sharing agreements, while also stepping up law enforcement.