The Story Behind Climate Security and What it Means for US Foreign Policy

Across the globe, record-breaking heat waves, floods, and other climate stressors are eroding communities’ resilience, compounding conflict risks, and deepening inequality. In response, countries have committed to a global energy transition that could bring its own set of geopolitical risks. Understanding how climate change, conflict, and peace interact has therefore become a priority for countries and multilateral institutions, as reflected in the COP28 Declaration on Climate, Relief, Recovery, and Peace.  

Join the Wilson Center, in partnership with the Center for Climate & Security, on October 1 for a dialogue with climate security pioneer Sherri Goodman, environmental journalist Peter Schwartzstein, Middle East expert Merissa Khurma, and Anne Witkowsky, Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, US Department of State, to unpack the impact of climate change on security risks around the globe, the evolution of US engagement on climate security, and opportunities to strengthen stability and build cooperation through climate action. The discussion will feature insights from two new books, Sherri Goodman’s Threat Multiplier: Climate, Military Leadership, and the Fight for Global Security and Peter Schwartzstein’s The Heat and the Fury: On the Frontlines of Climate Violence. 

This event has reached in-person capacity. We invite you to register to watch the event's live webcast.

About the Speakers

Sherri Goodman is a Senior Fellow at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program and Polar Institute, and Secretary General of the International Military Council on Climate & Security. Credited with educating a generation of US military and government officials, Goodman was former first Deputy Undersecretary of Defense (Environmental Security) and staff member on the Senate Armed Services Committee. Her famous coinage, “threat multiplier,” has fundamentally reshaped the national discourse on climate change and national security. 

Merissa Khurma is the Program Director of the Middle East Program at the Wilson Center. Previously, she was a non-resident fellow in the International Security program at New America. Khurma also served as director of the Office of Jordan’s Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein and as press attaché and director of the Information Bureau at the Embassy of Jordan in Washington, D.C. She has led a range of development projects in the Middle East, from the Syrian refugee crisis, education, gender, and youth, to economic development and governance.

Peter Schwartzstein is an environmental journalist and a Global Fellow with the Wilson Center's Environmental Change and Security Program, a TED fellow, and a fellow at the Center for Climate and Security. Based first in Cairo and now Athens, he has reported on water, food security, and conflict-climate issues across more than 30 countries in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia. Schwartzstein primarily writes for National Geographic, but his work has also appeared in The New York Times, BBC, Reuters, Foreign Affairs, and many other outlets. Peter regularly consults on climate security and other topics, including for UNEP, UNICEF, ICRC, and Amnesty International. 

Anne Witkowsky is the Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations with the US Department of State since January 2022. She was previously a non-resident Senior Democracy Fellow at Freedom House, where she co-directed the joint Task Force on the U.S. Strategy to Support Democracy and Counter Authoritarianism. She has held several such senior positions including the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Stability and Humanitarian Affairs and the Deputy Coordinator for Homeland Security and Multilateral Affairs in Bureau of Counterterrorism.