COP21 Update: Military’s Role in Post-Paris Pivot to Fast Action

The Global Military Advisory Council on Climate Change (GMACCC) underscored the need for fast action on climate change, emphasizing the relation to global security and calling for militaries to act as key contributors to climate change preparedness at the the Paris climate conference today.

According to the 2015 Call to Action released by the GMACCC, “international stability from resource scarcity, extreme weather events, migration, disease, sea level rise” are threats to human security and therefore require global cooperation on climate change.

Major General Muniruzaman, GMACCC Chairman, stressed the relationship between climate change, mass migration, and terrorism.

“We have to focus on fast mitigation, from now until 2020 when the COP21 agreement is implemented, or we will face a problem that is twice as difficult to resolve, including disaster relief and climate resolution, and resources that would otherwise go to mitigation will diverted to disaster relief and conflict management,” said Durwood Zaelke, President of IGSD and speaker at the event today. “The military will play a critical role in the post-Paris pivot to fast action.”

For more on fast action and the post-Paris pivot, see the Council on Foreign Relations guest blog by Nobel Laureate Mario Molina and Durwood Zaelke: Cutting Short-Lived Pollutants Can Give Quick Wins on Warming