Climate adaptation at the U.S. Department of Defense and beyond

Date:
July 28, 2021
Source:
University of Arizona
Summary:
New research identifies climate change challenges faced by U.S.

Department of Defense facilities, and solutions that might serve
as a model for other large organizations.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
As climate change continues to pose a global threat, new research from
the University of Arizona looks at how it may be impacting the world's
largest employer: the U.S. Department of Defense.


==========================================================================
A team of University of Arizona researchers set out to understand
how climate change might affect Department of Defense facilities and
activities across the globe, and what actions the department can take to
both respond to climate- related threats and reduce its own contributions
to climate change.

With a budget larger than many countries and a huge influence on global politics, the DOD has the potential to serve as an example for other
large organizations, or even cities, when it comes to climate adaptation
and climate change mitigation strategies, say the researchers, whose
results are published in the journal Climate Services.

The team looked specifically at four military bases in the southwestern
United States: Fort Huachuca in Southern Arizona, Naval Base Coronado
in Southern California, and Arizona's Barry M. Goldwater Range East and
Barry M. Goldwater Range West.

They worked with liaisons and personnel at each base to identify potential climate-related threats facing the bases and their operations. Then,
through workshops and discussions, personnel at each base outlined
adaptation and mitigation strategies that the bases should consider implementing, which the UArizona researchers summarized in their paper.

The impacts of climate change have already been felt by some of the bases
the researchers studied. For example, the authors write that fires and post-fire flooding are significant concerns for resource managers at
Fort Huachuca, and a small wildfire in 2011 burned a section of Naval
Base Coronado. Those types of events are likely at least exacerbated by
climate change, the researchers write.



==========================================================================
"The DOD will need to adapt to climate to protect its own facilities, activities, resources and infrastructure," said study co-author Don Falk,
a professor in the School of Natural Resources and the Environment.

"There have been a surprisingly large number of forward-thinking policy statements related to climate adaptation within the DOD," Falk said. "The department has recognized for a long time that climate change is serious business." However, putting policies into action at individual bases
is not without challenges, which the researchers outline in their study.

The Challenges Obstacles such as frequent leadership turnover and base officials' limited access to decision makers in the military hierarchy
can make it hard to put climate adaptation and mitigation strategies
into action, the researchers write.



==========================================================================
In addition, the researchers found that climate change commitments
by high- ranking officials don't always get translated to action on
the ground.

Another issue is insufficient training, capacity and incentives to
integrate climate information into short-term and long-term planning.

High turnover among base commanders can also create an environment in
which there's lack of attention to long-term issues such as climate
change, the researchers write. In most cases, base commanders are at installations for three years at most.

"This is a problem that's endemic across the climate change issue,
including within Congress. Elected officials work within election cycles
only a few years long," said Gregg Garfin, lead study author and director
of the university's Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Center.

The Recommendations The study authors say that making meaningful changes
within the department might start with emphasizing risks to DOD missions.

"The department's way of thinking is all about ensuring mission
preparedness, and so that's the doorway to working on climate adaptation strategies with them," said Garfin, who is also the director of science translation and outreach for the Arizona Institutes for Resilience
and an associate professor in the School of Natural Resources and the Environment.

Also important, Garfin said, is finding champions at individual bases
to lead climate adaptation efforts.

"These are people who will step up and take on this issue, which we
found was really critical," Garfin said.

The DOD also can pursue climate-related partnerships with nearby land
owners and other organizations, the researchers write.

"The department can coordinate and learn from other organizations and
share their learning with their neighbors as well, so the department
doesn't have to do all the heavy lifting," Garfin said. "Building this
kind of culture of adaptation to climate change across many entities,
I think, will make a large impact." In addition, the researchers suggest
that the department integrate climate considerations into existing plans.

"Instead of putting a new burden on installations to develop a new
standalone climate plan, they can incorporate some risk information
into existing plans and operations," Garfin said. "That seems to be the
major solution." Some of the easiest changes will likely be operational,
say the researchers.

For example, aircraft use huge amounts of energy and produce huge amounts
of pollution, Falk said, so bases might consider operating solely on
electric vehicles.

An existing example of a military base practicing climate adaptation
is the solar power plant at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson. The
base has the Air Force's largest operational solar array, which provides
a large chunk of the base's power needs.

The UArizona research team hopes similar measures can be enacted across
the country.

"As a climate scientist, it was really refreshing to find that at
the federal level, the DOD had made many clear, unambiguous fact-based statements about climate," Falk said. "Their job is to recognize threats
and concerns that involve the security of their facilities, activities
and the country at large." The researchers believe their findings can
be applied to other large organizations, or even cities, that are facing similar pressures and challenges related to climate change.

"I think the involvement of the Department of Defense could be a true
game changer for the whole process of climate adaptation in our society,
for at least two reasons," Falk said. "They are so large, with a gigantic energy and resource footprint, and anything they do is going to have a
ripple effect.

Secondly, the military has credibility. When the military comes around
on something, people listen." The study was co-authored by UArizona's Katharine Jacobs, Christopher O'Connor, Arin Haverland, Jeremy Weiss,
Adriana Zun~iga-Tera'n and the late Raphael Sagarin, who was principal investigator on the project until his passing in 2015. Additional
co-authors are Anna Haworth and Alastair Baglee from the risk management consulting firm Willis Towers Watson in Cardiff, Wales, and Jonathan
Overpeck at the University of Michigan. The study was funded by the
DOD's Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Arizona. Original
written by Mikayla Mace Kelley. Note: Content may be edited for style
and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Gregg Garfin, Donald A. Falk, Christopher D. O'Connor, Katharine
Jacobs,
Raphael D. Sagarin, Arin C. Haverland, Anna Haworth,
Alastair Baglee, Jeremy Weiss, Jonathan Overpeck, Adriana
A. Zun~iga-Tera'n. A new mission: Mainstreaming climate adaptation
in the US Department of Defense. Climate Services, 2021; 22:
100230 DOI: 10.1016/ j.cliser.2021.100230 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/07/210728124321.htm

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