The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) formally accepted Canada’s proposal, presented a year ago, to create and host such an organization, at a time when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in Spain participating in a summit of NATO focused largely on the war in Ukraine.
The new NATO Center of Excellence for Climate Change and Security will be based in Montreal.
According to Ottawa, NATO has a clear role to play in combating climate change, a task that poses unique challenges to the military and security agencies tasked with keeping us safe .
This Center of Excellence will enable military and civilian actors to develop, enhance, and share knowledge on the security implications of climate change.
It will allow participants to work together to build necessary capabilities and best practices and contribute to NATO’s goal of reducing the impact of our military activities on the climate , the Canadian government said. The creation of a Center of Excellence for Climate Change and Security is a joint initiative of the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Department of National Defense.
It was during the NATO Summit in June 2021 that Prime Minister Trudeau announced Canada’s proposal to create and host such a center of excellence. Introducing the new organization, Ottawa noted that the various effects of climate change on the behavior of state and non-state actors are not yet fully understood .
Women, girls, indigenous peoples, people living in poverty and other vulnerable or marginalized population groups are often particularly exposed to the direct and indirect effects of climate change , the Canadian proposal noted, stating that what is wanted is to better understand the implications and challenges of climate change for security and coping with the challenges.