Climate security

Half of US military bases affected by climate change – Pentagon report

Climate change in the form of flooding, storm surges, wildfires or droughts is affecting 50 percent of 1,684 US military sites worldwide, according to a Pentagon study.

“Changes in climate can potentially shape the environment in which we operate and the missions we are required to do,” said the US Department of Defense in a report accompanying the survey. The conclusion comes from qualitative surveys conducted by personnel at each site. A military site is defined as a base, camp, post, station, center under DoD jurisdiction.

Survey respondents were asked to assess their sites based on six categories: flooding due to storm surge; flooding due to non-storm surge events (rain, snow, river overflow); extreme temperatures (hot and cold); wind; drought and wildfire.

The highest counts were for drought (782) followed by wind (763) and non-storm surge related flooding (706). About 10 percent of sites indicated being affected by extreme temperatures (351), while flooding due to storm surge (225) and wildfire (210) affected about 6 percent of sites, according to the survey.