The First Global Conference on Oceans, Climate and Security
For over a decade, some policy makers and progressive thinkers in military and intelligence establishments have indicated concern about the impacts of climate change and threats to national and human security. A major element of that concern is the impact of climate change on oceans, and how sea level rise, warming, acidification, and the disappearance of ice mass in the North and South poles will pose threats to our national security. These threats can be direct, such as impacting our military installations at sea level, and indirect, such as by the destabilization of populations and countries through the loss of food sources and flooding.
The purpose of the First Global Conference on Oceans, Climate and Security (GCOCS) is to:
- Raise the awareness level of the threat of climate change to our oceans and the consequent threat to our human and national security,
- Identify, prioritize and fill the knowledge gaps in science and technology which inhibit understanding of and adaption to future threats;
- Generate global security policy and governance recommendations in the light of the climate, ocean, and security continuum.
GCOCS will help shape our collective understanding and positively influence our futures through strategic and important conversations enhanced by cross-pollination of diverse, multi-disciplinary perspectives elicited through plenary, panel and world café sessions.
This Conference is a joint presentation of the Collaborative Institute for Oceans, Climate and Security at the University of Massachusetts at Boston (CIOCS) and Battelle Memorial Institute (Battelle). GCOCS will be held May 21-23, 2012 in Boston, Massachusetts.