Climate Change, Conflict and (In)Security Hot War

Introduction: Climate Change and (In)Security

Timothy Clack, Ziya Meral, and Louise Selisny

Section I: Climate Security Contexts 

1. Cascading and Systemic Risks from Environmental Change

Tim Benton, Neil Morisetti, and Oli Brown

2. Geopolitics and Security in the Changing Arctic

Kimberly Marten

3. Geopolitics and Security in the Changing Antarctic

Samuel Jardine and Timothy Clack

4. Security Politics of Climate Change in the Levant

Ana Kumarasamy and Simon Mabon

5. Decentering Climate Security: The Research and Policy Implications of Sudden-Onset and Slow-Onset Climate Change

Tom Deligiannis

6. A New Framework for Understanding Risk: The Role of Climate Change in the Northern Triangle

Lauren Herzer Risi

7. Climate Change, Insecurity, and Economic Transformation

Matthew Paterson

Section II:  Defence and Security Implications

8. Towards a Greener Alliance: NATO’s Energy Efficiency and Mitigation Efforts

Katarina Kertysova

9. The Evolving Climate Change Threat: UK Defence Preparations

Richard Nugee and Timothy Clack 

10. Maritime Response to Climate Change

Sherri Goodman, Pauline Baudu, and Rachel Fleishman

11. Climate Disruption to Hidden Networks: Understanding Human-Animal-Ecological Relationships for Conflict and Security

Alex Tasker

12. Climate Intelligence in Theory and Practice

Louise Selisny, Timothy Clack, Tristan Burwell, and Richard Nugee

13. Operational Risks and Opportunities from Climate Change on Western Militaries’ Conservation Activities

Richard Milburn

Section III: Framings and Reflections

14. Ecological Security: The New Military Operational Priority for Humanitarian and Disaster Response

Thammy Evans and Gary Lewis

15. The Hyperthreat and Politico-Military Response: Outcomes from a Military Appreciation of Entangled Security

Elizabeth Boulton

16. A Reflection on 30 Years of Climate and Conflict

Thomas Homer-Dixon

Biography

Timothy Clack is Chingiz Gutseriev Fellow at the University of Oxford, UK. He is co-editor of various titles including Cultural Heritage and Armed Conflict (2022) and The World Information War (2021).

Ziya Meral is Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute.

Louise Selisny is a Research Associate at the University of Oxford, UK.

'The book completes its mission to show that climate change is a driver of conflict, an obstacle to conflict resolution, and a creator of strategic shocks, tensions, opportunities, and risks… A must read for anyone interested in defence, security, or climate change.'

General Tom Middendorp, International Military Council on Climate & Security (former Chief of Defence of The Netherlands)

'Climate change is the single most significant long-term defence issue. Its consequences will shape threats, challenge governments (as competition for food, water increases) undermine military capabilities, and drive economic instability. The book offers insights that are at once timely, important, and alarming.'

Tobias Ellwood MP, Chair of the UK House of Commons Defence Committee, 2020-2023

'The climate crisis is the top geopolitical issue of our time. From the High North to equatorial Africa, global heating will be the major driver of the conflicts and threats we will face in the coming decades. This vital and timely book challenges us to marshal a much better response, urgently.'

Tom Fletcher, University of Oxford (former UK Foreign Policy Adviser to three UK Prime Ministers)

'There are uncomfortable gaps between knowledge, practice, and reality when it comes to how climate change is shaping human and hard security. This book is an important contribution to closing that gap, showing how to stop worrying about securitizing climate and start climatizing security.'

Hon. Sharon E. Burke, Ecospherics (former US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Operational Energy)

'Climate Change and Insecurity is a clarion call for the military and security sectors. This exceptional collection shows how climate change and its impacts are reshaping the world and how nations must prepare for what is to come.'

Captain Dr Andrea Cameron, US Naval War College

'For those familiar with this field of study and the publication scarcity associated with this topic, this book represents a refreshing topic review, with a few novel moments. For those unfamiliar with this topic, Climate Change, Conflict and (In)Security: Hot War is a must-read, as it provides an insightful and expeditious general overview.'

Zachary Z. Horsington, Small Wars Journal

'..this voluminous account gives students, researchers, and policymakers an opportunity to decipher the climate-defense nexus in a broader context. When it comes to tackling climate change, policymakers need to be ahead of the curve. This edited book gives them much-needed intellectual impetus and foundations to effect substantive changes in the way climate change is fought.'

Syed Ali Zia Jaffery, Pakistan Journal of Integrated Social Sciences, 2024