Pentagon issues “Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap”

                                                                 Summary by Ted Beringer

HATCHLINGS FROM ENDANGERED SEA TURTLES ARE RELEASED INTO THE ATLANTIC OCEAN NEAR KENNEDY
SPACE CENTER/CAPE CANAVERAL.
CREDIT: NASA, KIM SHIFLETT

The Pentagon released a report on Monday (October 13, 2014) entitled the Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap with a forward by U. S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel. It basically acknowledges that climate change is a reality that must be addressed without being ignored any longer.

The Pentagon is seeing recurrent flooding today at many of its military installations including the Hampton Road region in Virginia. It is addressing the problems expected to occur with a projected sea-level rise of 1.5 feet over the next 20 to 50 years. Four primary climate change phenomena are expected to impact the Department of Defense. They are:

• Rising global temperatures.
• Changing precipitation patterns.
• Increasing frequency or intensity of extreme weather events.
• Rising sea levels and associated storm surge.

The report issues expectations that several effects of climate change will impact both manmade infrastructure as well as “natural infrastructure”. These include:

• Increased inundation, erosion, and flooding damage.
• Disruption to and competition for reliable energy and fresh water supplies.
• Damage from thawing permafrost and sea ice in Alaska and the Arctic region.
• Increased ecosystem, wetland, sensitive species, and non-native invasive species management challenges.

To read the report in its entirety visit http://www.acq.osd.mil/ie/download/CCARprint.pdf