Review from New Security Beat

Geoff Dabelko at the New Security Beat has posted an informed and substantive summary and review of the Stimson Center's Troubled Waters: Climate Change, Hydropolitics, and Transboundary Resources. He's right to focus on this report, which was an interesting and informed summary of how water politics -- already an area of potential conflict -- is being complicated by climate change in South Asia.

This was an interesting report that was worth reading.

Report on Bangladesh's Environmental Security

It has come to my attention that the Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPPS) authored a briefing last August on Environmental Security in their country. The report can be found here.

Among the findings of the briefing is that climate change will "negatively impact food security, health security, and economic security" in Bangladesh. It states that a one meter rise in sea level (above the IPCC's 2007 estimate, but within range of current estimates) would inundate 5,609 million acres of coastal land- about 15% of Bangladesh's total area (see image for detail).

The BIPPS concludes that the Government of Bangladesh has yet to produce an "integrated disaster management approach" to deal with climate change. The report recommends that Bangladesh needs to increase its diplomacy at international events, particularly in the UNFCCC, by seeking out alliances with like-minded countries. Finally, it recommends that the Bangladeshi government implements a new strategy -- coordinated throughout the government and private sector -- to adapt to the security effects of climate change.