Environmental and Climate Impacts on National Security: A Coupled Human-Environment System Perspective

University Of Alabama In Huntsville, Huntsville AL

Investigators

Abstract

Environmental degradation can lead to sustained natural and humanitarian disasters, which may foster political instability when societal demands exceed the capacity of local governments to cope. The influence of local land use changes on resiliency to droughts and on external food dependency is not very well understood. The effort will integrate environmental measurements and signatures, numerical climate models, and predictive statistical models with trends identified from large historical data sets, in order to provide valuable information and analyses for use in planning and understanding the impact of environment-based instabilities. The proposed methodology will allow evaluation of such effects and provide information to allow for mitigation. Mitigation of regional impacts is more tractable than global climate change impacts and could be effected through external aid. The focus is on regions of sub-Saharan Africa, where in the arid and semi-arid regions, the reduction in rainfall caused by land use change is likely to have significant implications for agriculture. The uniqueness of the proposed methodology is the coupled approach of examining the impact of population growth, land use change and climate feedback to food security in a relatively local area. By integrating current environmental measurements with current and historical data and a suite of proven modeling approaches, the project will enhance the ability to integrate and interpret these disparate information sources. The researchers will provide for the integration of students into research efforts at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.