by Spc. Christina Chang, 29th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – As part of the Department of Defense National Guard State Partnership Program 30th Anniversary Conference, senior military and civilian officials from across the globe took part in a discussion panel on the potential impacts of climate change and approaches to mitigate its effects.
Like the National Guard, military members of many SPP partner nations also take part in disaster and emergency response efforts in their nation in support of civil authorities.
“Domestically in the U.S., it's often the National Guard who is called in,” said Iris A Ferguson, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Arctic and global resilience and a panel member. “In fact, in 2022, over half of the National Guard's 450,000 members were involved in disaster response.”
While the effects of climate change can be seen throughout the global community, many SPP-partnered nations are in geographically vulnerable regions.
"On a daily basis, we see the issues of sea-level rise, we see the issues of the intensification of the strength and frequencies of cyclonic activities,” said Col. Telbert Benjamin, chief of the defense staff of the Antigua and Barbuda Defense Force. “As a coastal pelagic state, everything climate-related threatens the survival of my island nation.”
While there is no single answer to ending climate change, panel members said that education and technology exchange, risk mitigation and collaboration among SPP partners are critical.
“[The SPP and] the opportunities to train, the opportunities for subject matter exchanges strengthen the professional standards of the organization, allowing us to contribute more to that national discussion, to that national debate, and of course, to that national planning,” said Benjamin.
In order to create more effective risk management strategies, Eadditional efforts will beare also needed on the front end to mitigate climate change, rather than simply responding to its effects.
"We have to also change our mindset … that the military's role is to [only] respond,” said Sharon Burke, founder and president of Ecospherics and the former assistant secretary of defense for operational energy during the discussion. “We need to be thinking together about how to get on the front end and be more resilient and also prevent [climate change’s effects]."
In his closing remarks, Army Maj. Gen. Jim Ring, the adjutant general of the Virginia National Guard, lauded the cooperative work that has been done to combat climate change through the SPP program, acknowledging that while there is still a way to go, the way forward is together.
“I'll simply say, we're stronger together,” he said. “We're stronger together military-military and we're stronger together [as a joint force]. We're stronger together inter-governmental and non-governmental. We're stronger between all of us, within whole of societies.”
(Photo caption: On July 18, 2023, the U.S. National Guard State Partnership Program’s 30th Anniversary Conference held a climate change and resiliency panel discussion to discuss its implications for the U.S. National Guard, their ally nations, and the State Partnership Program connecting these domestic and international states.)
| Date Taken: | 07.21.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 07.21.2023 18:12 |
| Story ID: | 449792 |
| Location: | NATIONAL HARBOR, MARYLAND, US |
| Web Views: | 116 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, DOD National Guard State Partnership Program a Key Part of Climate Change Fight, by SPC Christina Chang, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
