Global Military Advisory Council
on Climate Change
Highlighting the security implications of a changing climate
LATEST NEWS
13 May 2023 - Our dear friend and colleague Tom Spencer passed away peacefully on 4 May 2023. Tom was a former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and a member and Vice-Chair of GMACCC since its beginning in 2009.
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28 April 2023 - Project CASA (Climate and Security Action) will assess the extent to which national militaries especially in the EU and NATO have the necessary financial resources, experts, training, equipment, and facilities to effectively prepare for and respond to the increased occurrence of climate-related emergencies.
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3 October 2022 - GMACCC member Cheryl Durrant (Australia) was interviewed by Elsa Barron, Research Fellow at the Center for Climate and Security (CCS) concerning climate security action in Australia. The interview was published by the International Military Council on Climate and Security on 3 October 2022.
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18 August 2022. - In a NATO Review article co-authored by GMACCC member Rene Heise, the authors explore two ways in which climate change and space technologies intersect.
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Berlin, 2-3 May 2022 - The conference held in Berlin on 2-3 May 2022 entitled ‘Sustaining Peace Amidst the Climate Crisis: The Role of Data Science, Technology and Innovation’ focused on the cutting edge application of new tools and futuristic knowledge.
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Delphi, Greece, 9 April 2022 - The Foundation for Global Governance and Sustainability (FOGGS) the Global Military Advisory Council on Climate Change (GMACCC) were the content partners at this year's Delphi Economic Forum (6 to 9 April 2022) for the panel discussion entitled "Towards a Holistic Approach to New Threats of non-military nature".
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Brussels, 25 February 2022 –The European Organisation of Military Associations and Trade Unions (EUROMIL) in association with GMACCC organised an on-line panel discussion on the Climate Change and the Military in which participants learned about the EU’s actions towards the ‘greening’ of the military and civil society’s point of view on what should be done next.
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16-24 August 2021 - "How Climate Change Intersects with Global Security" - Interview with Dr Chad Briggs and "Adaptation Critical to Our Global Climate Preparedness Strategy" - Interview with Alice Hill
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Brussels, 30 April 2021 - Nine GMACCC members are among the 30 co-authors of the report on “Sustainable Peace & Security in a Changing Climate: Recommendations for NATO 2030” which was submitted today to NATO, as part of the NATO 2030 process - a forward-looking reflection to strengthen NATO's political dimension.
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Brussels, 1 April 2021 - An article by GMACCC's Rene Heise in NATO Review says that “The Allies are individually responsible for adapting to climate change, but the Alliance must also act collectively. It is urgent that NATO comprehensively recognises changes in environmental conditions, responds to climate change and adapts its capabilities. Climate change and extreme weather have significant military implications for NATO on the tactical, operational and military-strategic level.”
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Ottawa, 6 February 2021 - As one of the first to be interviewed, in the podcast episode "In the Shadows – What is climate security," by Rebecca Henrys, EDRC's policy director and co-coordinator of the Brussels Dialogue on Climate Diplomacy (BDCD), Alexander Verbeek examined the security implication of climate change. "In the Shadows" facilitates discussions with experts on national security and intelligence topics related to current affairs.
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Washington D.C., 28 January 2021 - The US Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) recently published a podcast episode on "Climate Security: Bringing Climate into all Sectors” as part of the Theories of Change program, featuring GMACCC members, Alexander Verbeek.
Read MoreGMACCC EVENTS
Brussels, 3 June 2022 - The 15th meeting of the Brussels Dialogue on Climate Diplomacy will include presentations and discussion on NATO’s new Strategic Concept, plans for the NATO Centre of Excellence on Climate and Security and the NATO SPS-project DataCube4Env Sec.
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Delphi, Greece, 9 April 2022
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Brussels, 25 February 2022
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Madrid, 11 December 2019
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Brussels, 23 October 2019
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Brussels, 24 October 2019
Read MoreMEMBER EVENTS
Brussels, 1 June 2021 - 13th Meeting of the Brussels Dialogue on Climate Diplomacy
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17 September 2020 - Brussels - Environment & Development Resource Centre (EDRC)
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10 March 2020 - Brussels - BDCD / EDRC
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12 September 2019 - The Hague - 10th Meeting of The Hague Roundtable on Climate and Security
Read MoreABOUT
The vision of GMACCC is to be seen as an authoritative voice on the need for, and the nature of, action to be taken by the security community to reduce the risks posed to national security by a changing climate
History
GMACCC was created in 2009 In response to growing threats to global security and peace posed by climate change. The Council was established at the initiative of the Institute for Environmental Security (IES) as part of its project “Climate Change and the Military” – a cooperative effort of a group of leading think tanks aimed at sending a clear and strong message from the security sector to global policy makers to engage the international community to mitigate security risks in proactive climate change adaptation strategies.
The IES project featured the publication in 2009 of the background paper, “Climate Change & the Military: The State of the Debate” which outlined the central issue of climate change and security, and established a framework for discussion in the military on its role in addressing the direct impacts of climate change on its core focus areas of national security, regional and global stability.
The group’s first joint statement was released in October 2009 at the third in a series of joint conferences on Climate Change and International Security which was held in Washington, D.C., and issued simultaneously in Brussels, Dhaka, Georgetown, London, New Delhi and The Hague.
The call for action emphasised that incremental and occasionally abrupt changes in the earth’s climate are triggering – on an unprecedented scale – human misery, loss of biodiversity and damage to infrastructure with consequential security implications that urgently need to be addressed. The joint statement called on all governments to ensure that security implications of climate change are integrated into their respective military strategies. GMACCC also called upon the military to help reduce energy use that contributes to climate change by reducing its own carbon “bootprint”.
The Council warned in the statement that “failure to recognise the conflict and instability implications of climate change and to invest in a range of preventative and adaptive actions will be very costly in terms of destabilising nations, causing human suffering, retarding development and providing the required military response.”
In the years since the founding of GMACCC the IES and partners have organised several events on climate change and international security and Council members have been guest speakers at many international conferences around the world. GMACCC has also (co-) published a series of papers on the security threats of a changing climate including papers focused on specific regions such as Africa and South Asia.
Organisation
General Meetings of GMACCC are open to all GMACCC Individual Members and representatives of Partner Organisations. Every three years the Council (re-) appoints among its members an Executive Committee to coordinate the work of the GMACCC for the next three years. The EC elects from among its members a Chairperson for the same period. The current members of the Executive Committee are:
Major General A M N Muniruzzaman (Ret.) – GMACCC Chairman
Dr Stephen O. Andersen
Dr Chad Briggs
Ms Jessica Olcott Yllemo
Dr Col Reiner Zimmermann
In 2018 the Council appointed Jamie Shea as GMACCC Secretary General and entrusted the Environment & Development Resource Centre (EDRC) to serve as the GMACCC International Secretariat with the American Security Project (ASP) as the GMACCC North American Office.
The work of the Council is coordinated by the Executive Committee and three standing committees:
1: Research Committee
2: Education Committee
3: Outreach Committee
GMACCC Individual Members serve in their individual capacities and not as representatives of their respective organisations.
