Climate Science and National Security
From "Lost in Translation: Closing the Gap Between Climate Science and National Security Policy," published in April by the Center for a New American Security:
In a world where the past is no longer prologue, decision makers need new methods and analytical support to accommodate uncertainty about how climate changes could affect the future security environment. Such innovations will require intensive and sustained interactions between those who produce climate information and those who use it to make decisions. …
Recent controversies surrounding climate science, even if largely unfounded, undermine serious efforts to bring the scientific and decision making communities closer together. … [T]he IPCC and other authoritative scientific institutions, such as the national academies of the world, have been slow to respond to these controversies. ...The slow response from scientific institutions and the IPCC independent panel’s plan to not review previous findings reveals a lack of appreciation for the difficult position that decision makers are now in as a result of the public controversy surrounding the IPCC, even if it is scientifically unfounded. …
Ideally, there should be a synergy between consumers and producers of climate information: more information is needed than ever before and more information is available. And yet, solid scientific information is not reliably or consistently getting into the right hands, while some of the information that translates across the gap is not, or is not perceived as, useful. …
Bridging the gap between policy makers and scientists will require change on all sides. The national security community generally – and DOD in particular – will have to develop new ways to cross the gap in order to continue meeting requirements to integrate climate change into its future strategy documents.
Producers of climate information will have to accept that they work in a policy-relevant, inherently political field and will be asked to invest more time and resources into communicating science and listening to the needs of consumers.
Consumers, in turn, will have to make a conscious effort to generate a demand signal for the information they need and build mechanisms for cultivating and incorporating sound scientific advice. Existing bridges will not prove sufficient, and there will be a role for new public and private sector institutions to translate science to policy makers and policy needs to scientists.
If the nation is to prepare for, prevent and respond to global climate change, climate science and national security professionals will have to find a new way of doing business or risk having valuable science lost in translation.