Climate & Security (CASP)

The world is slowly but surely accepting the harsh reality of climate change. The science is unified in its judgment: climate change is accelerated by human-caused anthropogenic changes in the atmosphere, leading to rises in temperatures that are unprecedented in our natural historical record. HCSS is launching the Climate and Security Programme (CASP) in response to the urgent and growing need for a better understanding of the geopolitical and other security implications of climate change.

Latest Research

Catch up on our latest research in the field of Climate & Security.

Understanding the Pathway from Water Insecurity to Urban Migration in Southern Iraq

Resilient and Robust: Climate-Proofing the Military for Increased Military Effectiveness

Global Center on Adaptation | State and Trends in Adaptation Report 2022

Water Governance in Iraq: Enabling a Gamechanger

Serious Gaming: Grounding and Directing Climate Action

IMCCS | Climate Security Snapshot: The Balkans

Iraqi Marshland Women: The True Guardians of the Marshes

Action Needed: Three Priorities for Iraq’s Water Sector

Not When But Why | Embedding Causal Methods in Policy and Programming

IMCCS | Decarbonized Defense: The Need for Clean Military Power in the Age of Climate Change

Unpacking the Climate Security Nexus | Seven Pathologies Linking Climate Change to Violent Conflict

Strategic Monitor 2021-2022 | Hanging Together: Partners and Policies for the Netherlands and EU in Turbulent Times

WPS paper: Water challenges and conflict dynamics in Southern Iraq

A youth perspective on tackling Water-Food-Energy nexus challenges

HCSS Annual Report 2021

Climate Security in Global Hotspots: Policy Options for The Netherlands

Snapshot | India’s Climate Conundrum: Addressing the climate-food-poverty nexus in Odisha province

IMCCS | World Climate and Security Report 2021

The Hague Roundtable on Climate & Security: Building a transatlantic coalition for climate action

The Impact of Covid-19 in Water-Stressed Iraq

Climate Security Assessment: A Methodology and Assessment of the Nexus between Climate Hazards and Security of Nations and Regions

Environmental Terrorism in the MENA Region

The Widening Arsenal of Terrorist Organizations: Environmental Terrorism on the Rise in the Middle East and North Africa

The Face of Climate Insecurity: A Surge of Tropical Storms Strike Megacities in Asia and the Pacific

WPS Working Paper: Interprovincial Water Challenges in Iraq

IMCCS: Climate and Security in the Indo-Asia Pacific

Artificial Intelligence Tools versus Practice in Conflict Prediction: The Case of Mali

Climate & Security Strategic Capability Game Takeaways

Global Security Pulse June 2018: General Security Scan (open scan)

Effective Dutch climate measures require an international approach

Making cities in conflict areas more resilient

The Natural Resources and Security Nexus

The Geopolitical Impact of Climate Mitigation Policies

The Economics of Planetary Security: Climate Change as an Economic Conflict Factor

The Global Resource Nexus

Time to wake up: The Geopolitics of EU 2030 Climate and Energy Policies

HSD Issue Brief no. 5: Disaster Resilience and Climate Change

Handjeklap en powerplay: het geopolitieke spel rond grondstoffen

Sustainable (Re)Construction. The Potential of the Renovation Market

The Geopolitics of Shale Gas

De Geopolitiek van Schaliegas

Innovation in a Warming World. Research Tackling the Grand Challenge of Climate Change in Europe

Issue Brief No. 6 Environment Migration: Security Implication of Climate Change

Issue Brief No. 4 The Resource Scarcity Nexus: Challenges for the 21st Century

Water on the Tibetan Plateau: Ecological and Strategic Implications for the Region

About the HCSS Climate & Security Programme (CASP)

CASP seeks to bridge the gap between researchers, policymakers and practitioners working on climate-related security challenges in Europe and around the world. Its threefold mission is to:

Develop and operationalize a realist framework and approach to climate action

The HCSS Climate & Security program will analyse the extent to which a realist approach to climate change can support a more coherent, decisive, and entrepreneurial approach towards climate action. Such an approach will need to tap into different, yet highly compelling arguments for action: societal resilience and national security. Moreover, bringing the climate change agenda back to the national level will reinforce existing efforts as successes at local and national level can be scaled and shared to regional/EU and even global agreements.

Raise awareness and understanding about the nexus between climate-related risk, instability and conflict

Climate change is a threat and burden multiplier. The link between climate change and security manifests itself through different pathways depending on socio-economic, political and cultural factors. Fragile nations with weak governmental institutions are less likely to act decisively, let alone pre-emptively, on emerging threats. Extreme weather events and natural and human-made disasters directly impact the quantity and quality of basic resources such as water, food and energy. Scarcity leads to poverty, unrest, displacement, and even conflict.

Provide data-driven assessments and early warning support to policy and decision makers

Data is fundamental to understanding where climate related risks are highest, what the underlying drivers are, and they support the formulation of policy interventions to prevent, prepare and/or mitigate these risks. HCSS works with an experienced team of data scientists that develops early warning tools and causal models that can predict climate-related conflict and supports timely, accurate, data-driven policy recommendations.