Chad Briggs, Minerva Chair of Energy and Environmental Security, Air University, US Air Force
The Air University Minerva Initiative on Energy and Environmental Security was funded by the Office of the Secretary of Defense in 2010 on behalf of the US Air Force. The team has been tasked with developing new tools and methodologies for assessing the complex future risks of environmental and energy security (EES), and translating these alternative futures for combatant and joint planners at DOD and NATO. After initial work in Europe and the Arctic, in 2011 AU Minerva was asked to provide applied assessments of EES risks in the Asia-Pacific region for the USAF Chief of Staff. By focusing on water-energy relationships in China, India and Japan, this research has highlighted the vulnerable nature of many economic, political and infrastructural systems in Asia, and the security implications of cascading EES risks. This presentation will summarize some of the Minerva findings from this Asia-Pacific assessment, and how environmental and energy changes can affect US strategy in the Pacific.
Hosted by the Marjan Centre for the Study of Conflict and Conservation