Papers by Rymn J . Parsons
Using Pakistan and the Arctic as examples, this article examines security challenges arising from... more Using Pakistan and the Arctic as examples, this article examines security challenges arising from climate change. Pakistan is in crisis, and climate change, a transnational phenomenon perhaps better characterized as radical enviro-transformation, is an important reason. Its survival as a state may depend to great extent on how it responds to 2010's devastating floods. In the Arctic, the ice cap is melting faster than predicted, as temperatures there rise faster than in almost any other region. Unmanaged, a complex interplay of climate-related conditions, including large-scale "ecomigration", may turn resource competition into resource conflict. Radical enviro-transformation has repeatedly overborne the resilience of societies. War is not an inevitable by-product of such transformation, but in the 21st Century climate-related instability, from resource scarcity and "ecomigration", will likely create increasingly undesirable conditions of insecurity. Weak and failing states are one of today's greatest security challenges. The pace of radical enviro-transformation, unprecedented in human history, is accelerating, especially in the Arctic, where a new, open, rich, and accessible maritime environment is coming into being. The international community must work together to enhance security and stability, promote sustainability, and strengthen sovereignty. Radical enviro-transformation provides ample reason and plentiful opportunity for preventative, collaborative solutions focused broadly on adaptation to climate change, most particularly the effects of "ecomigration". Nations must work together across the whole of government and with all instruments of national power to create conditions for human transformation-social, political, and economic-to occur stably and sustainably, so as to avoid or lessen the prospects for and consequences of conflict. Collaborative international solutions to environmental issues, i.e., solutions that mobilize and share technology and resources, will build nations and build peace. The military, through "preventative engagement" will play a more and more important role. Further research and analysis is needed to determine what changes in law and policy OPEN ACCESS Climate change of a moderating nature, that is, climate change that increases the availability of habitable land and natural resources, may strengthen states, but no state is certain to derive only benefit from climate change. Competition for resources will likely increase and intensify. The benefits of moderating influences may be offset, in large countries particularly, by debilitating influences. Never before seen levels of migration, internal and external, may intensify threats and exacerbate vulnerabilities. This, too, could make armed conflict more likely. As the impacts of climate change compound, and especially if they accelerate, the modern state system, now little more than 400 years old, will face mounting pressures, pressures that may spur armed conflict. Of these, unforeseen numbers of environmentally dispossessed persons may be the most challenging. Uncontrolled mass migration is anathema to state sovereignty and national security. Ways and means to manage it must be found, and soon. For sovereignty to remain strong and resilient, security-maintaining a stable, peaceful international system-and sustainability-living within the Earth's carrying capacity-must adapt to climate change proactively, not reactively. Security and sustainability in an era of climate change will require unified effort around the globe [6]. Curiously, but fortuitously, the dangerous, divisive potentiality of climate change is also a unifying factor, as national interests find common cause in strengthening sovereignty internally and internationally. Unified action must come in many forms, using all instrument of national power, and must address both mitigation and adaptation. Mitigation of, and adaptation to, climate change, but especially adaptation, will require enormous capability and capacity, some taking forms and methods heretofore unimagined. And given the interdependence of sovereignty, sustainability, and security, the military instrument of national power will play an increasingly important role, likewise in new and different ways. Preserving sovereignty in an era of climate change will make more adaptive use of the military, across its full spectrum of capability and perhaps beyond, an essential ingredient of security and stability. But the military instrument of national power, like all others, will not be immune from the constraints and limitations that climate change will impose. Sustainability, some have recognized, has already become as important to armed forces as to every other element of society and government. Sustainable, capable, and adaptable military power will be in constant demand even if climate change advances on the low end of the more modest current predictions. The recent floods in Pakistan and the thinning, shrinking Arctic ice cap illustrate well, by contrast, the trends and challenges derived from climate change. Pakistan presents what may be the destructive effects of climate change on sovereignty and stability in the context of a state that might be characterized as highly stressed, possibly failing. The Arctic presages what at first may appear to be an upside of climate change, the opening of a new frontier for resource exploitation and new sea lanes of communication and commerce. Pakistan's floods suggest how a climate change induced shock, most importantly the resulting social, economic, and political stresses, may be beginning to test the resiliency of national sovereignty, with internal, regional, and international implications including its volatile relations with India, the growth of terrorism, and the vulnerability of its nuclear arsenal. The Arctic is different. Here climate change is perceived to offer opportunity, especially to the Arctic states: the United States, Canada, Denmark, Norway, and Russia [7]. But non-Arctic states, e.g., China, Germany, and Japan, are very much interested-and increasingly present-in these northern reaches [8,9].
Risk Hazards Crisis in Public Policy, 2010
Security studies in the 21st century have broadened to encompass a variety of transnational pheno... more Security studies in the 21st century have broadened to encompass a variety of transnational phenomena newly defined as threats. Climate change is one of these phenomena. In theoretical terms, climate change is being securitized. Climate change, in which man-made global warming is a major factor, is an internationally recognized phenomenon that is projected to produce dramatic, accelerating, and long-lasting human, economic, and political consequences with profound security implications. These will be most pronounced in places where the effects of climate change are greatest, particularly affecting weak states already especially vulnerable to environmental destabilization. National security establishments in the United States and elsewhere are hurriedly attempting to come to grips with climate change and how to respond to its strategic challenges. This paper, in the context of securitization theory, human security, and sustainable security, discusses the phenomena of global warming and climate change, examines the destabilizing effects of climate change, describes how such effects are being perceived as transnational threats to security, and argues that securitization of climate change is necessary, timely, and irreversible.
: Climate change, in which man-made global warming is a major factor, will likely have dramatic a... more : Climate change, in which man-made global warming is a major factor, will likely have dramatic and long lasting consequences with profound security implications, making it a challenge the United States must urgently take up. The security implications will be most pronounced in places where the effects of climate change are greatest, particularly affecting weak states already especially vulnerable to environmental destabilization. Two things are vitally important: stemming the tide of climate change and adapting to its far-reaching consequences. This project examines the destabilizing effects of climate change and how the military could be used to mitigate global warming and to assist at-risk peoples and states to adapt to climate change, thereby promoting stability and sustainable security. Recommendations are made on the importance of U.S. leadership on the critical issue of global warming, on defining and dealing with the strategic dimensions of climate change, and, as a case in ...
Sustainability, 2011
Using Pakistan and the Arctic as examples, this article examines security challenges arising from... more Using Pakistan and the Arctic as examples, this article examines security challenges arising from climate change. Pakistan is in crisis, and climate change, a transnational phenomenon perhaps better characterized as radical enviro-transformation, is an important reason. Its survival as a state may depend to great extent on how it responds to 2010's devastating floods. In the Arctic, the ice cap is melting faster than predicted, as temperatures there rise faster than in almost any other region. Unmanaged, a complex interplay of climate-related conditions, including large-scale "ecomigration", may turn resource competition into resource conflict. Radical enviro-transformation has repeatedly overborne the resilience of societies. War is not an inevitable by-product of such transformation, but in the 21st Century climate-related instability, from resource scarcity and "ecomigration", will likely create increasingly undesirable conditions of insecurity. Weak and failing states are one of today's greatest security challenges. The pace of radical enviro-transformation, unprecedented in human history, is accelerating, especially in the Arctic, where a new, open, rich, and accessible maritime environment is coming into being. The international community must work together to enhance security and stability, promote sustainability, and strengthen sovereignty. Radical enviro-transformation provides ample reason and plentiful opportunity for preventative, collaborative solutions focused broadly on adaptation to climate change, most particularly the effects of "ecomigration". Nations must work together across the whole of government and with all instruments of national power to create conditions for human transformation-social, political, and economic-to occur stably and sustainably, so as to avoid or lessen the prospects for and consequences of conflict. Collaborative international solutions to environmental issues, i.e., solutions that mobilize and share technology and resources, will build nations and build peace. The military, through "preventative engagement" will play a more and more important role. Further research and analysis is needed to determine what changes in law and policy OPEN ACCESS Climate change of a moderating nature, that is, climate change that increases the availability of habitable land and natural resources, may strengthen states, but no state is certain to derive only benefit from climate change. Competition for resources will likely increase and intensify. The benefits of moderating influences may be offset, in large countries particularly, by debilitating influences. Never before seen levels of migration, internal and external, may intensify threats and exacerbate vulnerabilities. This, too, could make armed conflict more likely. As the impacts of climate change compound, and especially if they accelerate, the modern state system, now little more than 400 years old, will face mounting pressures, pressures that may spur armed conflict. Of these, unforeseen numbers of environmentally dispossessed persons may be the most challenging. Uncontrolled mass migration is anathema to state sovereignty and national security. Ways and means to manage it must be found, and soon. For sovereignty to remain strong and resilient, security-maintaining a stable, peaceful international system-and sustainability-living within the Earth's carrying capacity-must adapt to climate change proactively, not reactively. Security and sustainability in an era of climate change will require unified effort around the globe [6]. Curiously, but fortuitously, the dangerous, divisive potentiality of climate change is also a unifying factor, as national interests find common cause in strengthening sovereignty internally and internationally. Unified action must come in many forms, using all instrument of national power, and must address both mitigation and adaptation. Mitigation of, and adaptation to, climate change, but especially adaptation, will require enormous capability and capacity, some taking forms and methods heretofore unimagined. And given the interdependence of sovereignty, sustainability, and security, the military instrument of national power will play an increasingly important role, likewise in new and different ways. Preserving sovereignty in an era of climate change will make more adaptive use of the military, across its full spectrum of capability and perhaps beyond, an essential ingredient of security and stability. But the military instrument of national power, like all others, will not be immune from the constraints and limitations that climate change will impose. Sustainability, some have recognized, has already become as important to armed forces as to every other element of society and government. Sustainable, capable, and adaptable military power will be in constant demand even if climate change advances on the low end of the more modest current predictions. The recent floods in Pakistan and the thinning, shrinking Arctic ice cap illustrate well, by contrast, the trends and challenges derived from climate change. Pakistan presents what may be the destructive effects of climate change on sovereignty and stability in the context of a state that might be characterized as highly stressed, possibly failing. The Arctic presages what at first may appear to be an upside of climate change, the opening of a new frontier for resource exploitation and new sea lanes of communication and commerce. Pakistan's floods suggest how a climate change induced shock, most importantly the resulting social, economic, and political stresses, may be beginning to test the resiliency of national sovereignty, with internal, regional, and international implications including its volatile relations with India, the growth of terrorism, and the vulnerability of its nuclear arsenal. The Arctic is different. Here climate change is perceived to offer opportunity, especially to the Arctic states: the United States, Canada, Denmark, Norway, and Russia [7]. But non-Arctic states, e.g., China, Germany, and Japan, are very much interested-and increasingly present-in these northern reaches [8,9].
Homeland & National Security Law Review, 2014
The purpose of this article is to re-examine recognition of belligerency in non-international arm... more The purpose of this article is to re-examine recognition of belligerency in non-international armed conflict (NIAC) and, by looking at civil wars in the 19th and 20th Centuries, come to a better understanding of why recognition of belligerency fell into disuse and why the practice is unlikely to be revived. But even if a revival of recognition of belligerency is impractical or unlikely, there is a legal process that is functionally, albeit unintentionally, equivalent: authorization of collective military intervention by the United Nations Security Council. Issued only when a threat to international peace and security has been found to exist, a United Nations Security Council resolution authorizing intervention in a NIAC attests, in practice, to the existence of hostilities that have reached levels of intensity, duration, and internationalization that historically were considered sufficient to bring the whole jus in bello into play.
Strategic Studies Institute Carlisle Papers, May 26, 2009
All Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) publications are available on the SSI homepage for electron... more All Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) publications are available on the SSI homepage for electronic dissemination. Hard copies of this report also may be ordered from our homepage. SSI's homepage address is: www.StrategicStudiesInstitute.army.mil. ***** The Strategic Studies Institute publishes a monthly e-mail newsletter to update the national security community on the research of our analysts, recent and forthcoming publications, and upcoming conferences sponsored by the Institute. Each newsletter also provides a strategic commentary by one of our research analysts. If you are interested in receiving this newsletter, please subscribe on our homepage at www.StrategicStudiesInstitute.army.mil/newsletter/.
Georgetown International Environmental Law Review, 1997
Part I of this article looks at the customary law of war, modern humanitarian law
conventions, an... more Part I of this article looks at the customary law of war, modern humanitarian law
conventions, and international environmental law. Part II examines the impact of
armed conflict on the environment, the diminishing capacity of the Earth to absorb
environmental catastrophe, the resulting need for new environmental rights and legal
protections, how a new multilateral convention might serve these ends, and the Fifth
Geneva Convention proposed by Greenpeace International. Part III will then consider whether a new convention to protect the environment during armed conflict is likely in the foreseeable future. Part IV analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of existing law, focusing on the problem of weak enforcement, aspects of effective enforcement and the compelling need for preventative enforcement remedies. Finally, Part V discusses the use of armed forces as a means to deter, prevent, and punish unjustified environmental damage during armed conflict. This part examines the threshold for use of force in this context and a new “greenkeeping” role for armed forces modeled on peacekeeping.
Risk, Hazard & Crisis in Public Policy, 2010
Security studies in the 21st century have broadened to encompass a variety of transnational pheno... more Security studies in the 21st century have broadened to encompass a variety of transnational phenomena newly defined as threats. Climate change is one of these phenomena. In theoretical terms, climate change is being securitized. Climate change, in which man-made global warming is a major factor, is an internationally recognized phenomenon that is projected to produce dramatic, accelerating, and long-lasting human, economic, and political consequences with profound security implications. These will be most pronounced in places where the effects of climate change are greatest, particularly affecting weak states already especially vulnerable to environmental destabilization. National security establishments in the United States and elsewhere are hurriedly attempting to come to grips with climate change and how to respond to its strategic challenges. This paper, in the context of securitization theory, human security, and sustainable security, discusses the phenomena of global warming and climate change, examines the destabilizing effects of climate change, describes how such effects are being perceived as transnational threats to security, and argues that securitization of climate change is necessary, timely, and irreversible.
Homeland & National Security Law Review, Jun 9, 2014
The purpose of this article is to re-examine recognition of
belligerency in non-international ar... more The purpose of this article is to re-examine recognition of
belligerency in non-international armed conflict (NIAC) and, by looking at civil wars in the 19th and 20th Centuries, come to a better understanding of why recognition of belligerency fell into disuse and why the practice is unlikely to be revived. But even if a revival of recognition of belligerency is impractical or unlikely, there is a legal process that is functionally, albeit unintentionally, equivalent: authorization of collective military intervention by the United Nations Security Council. Issued only when a threat to international peace and security has been found to exist, a United Nations Security Council resolution authorizing intervention in a NIAC attests, in practice, to the existence of hostilities that have reached levels of intensity, duration, and internationalization that historically were considered sufficient to bring the whole jus in bello into play.
Asserting in the first sentence of an article on international humanitarian law that combatant im... more Asserting in the first sentence of an article on international humanitarian law that combatant immunity applies in non-international armed conflict is likely to cause a good many legal scholars to stop reading, right then and there, in utter disbelief. But it does, or at least it did, in some circumstances. Examples go back over several centuries. And what's past, as Antonio recounts in The Tempest, is prologue. 1
Sustainability, Jan 1, 2011
Using Pakistan and the Arctic as examples, this article examines security challenges arising from... more Using Pakistan and the Arctic as examples, this article examines security challenges arising from climate change. Pakistan is in crisis, and climate change, a transnational phenomenon perhaps better characterized as radical enviro-transformation, is an important reason. Its survival as a state may depend to great extent on how it responds to 2010's devastating floods. In the Arctic, the ice cap is melting faster than predicted, as temperatures there rise faster than in almost any other region. Unmanaged, a complex interplay of climate-related conditions, including large-scale "ecomigration", may turn resource competition into resource conflict. Radical enviro-transformation has repeatedly overborne the resilience of societies. War is not an inevitable by-product of such transformation, but in the 21st Century climate-related instability, from resource scarcity and "ecomigration", will likely create increasingly undesirable conditions of insecurity. Weak and failing states are one of today's greatest security challenges. The pace of radical enviro-transformation, unprecedented in human history, is accelerating, especially in the Arctic, where a new, open, rich, and accessible maritime environment is coming into being. The international community must work together to enhance security and stability, promote sustainability, and strengthen sovereignty. Radical enviro-transformation provides ample reason and plentiful opportunity for preventative, collaborative solutions focused broadly on adaptation to climate change, most particularly the effects of "ecomigration". Nations must work together across the whole of government and with all instruments of national power to create conditions for human transformation-social, political, and economic-to occur stably and sustainably, so as to avoid or lessen the prospects for and consequences of conflict. Collaborative international solutions to environmental issues, i.e., solutions that mobilize and share technology and resources, will build nations and build peace. The military, through "preventative engagement" will play a more and more important role. Further research and analysis is needed to determine what changes in law and policy
Strategic Studies Institute Carlisle Papers, Jan 1, 2009
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Risk, Hazards & Crisis in Public Policy, Jan 1, 2010
Geo. Int'l Envtl. l. rev., Jan 1, 1997
Page 1. The Fight to Save the Planet: US Armed Forces, "Greenkeeping," ... more Page 1. The Fight to Save the Planet: US Armed Forces, "Greenkeeping," and Enforcement of the Law Pertaining to Environmental Protection During Armed Conflict. RYMN JAMES PARSONS* INTRODUCTION What Nature ...
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Papers by Rymn J . Parsons
conventions, and international environmental law. Part II examines the impact of
armed conflict on the environment, the diminishing capacity of the Earth to absorb
environmental catastrophe, the resulting need for new environmental rights and legal
protections, how a new multilateral convention might serve these ends, and the Fifth
Geneva Convention proposed by Greenpeace International. Part III will then consider whether a new convention to protect the environment during armed conflict is likely in the foreseeable future. Part IV analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of existing law, focusing on the problem of weak enforcement, aspects of effective enforcement and the compelling need for preventative enforcement remedies. Finally, Part V discusses the use of armed forces as a means to deter, prevent, and punish unjustified environmental damage during armed conflict. This part examines the threshold for use of force in this context and a new “greenkeeping” role for armed forces modeled on peacekeeping.
belligerency in non-international armed conflict (NIAC) and, by looking at civil wars in the 19th and 20th Centuries, come to a better understanding of why recognition of belligerency fell into disuse and why the practice is unlikely to be revived. But even if a revival of recognition of belligerency is impractical or unlikely, there is a legal process that is functionally, albeit unintentionally, equivalent: authorization of collective military intervention by the United Nations Security Council. Issued only when a threat to international peace and security has been found to exist, a United Nations Security Council resolution authorizing intervention in a NIAC attests, in practice, to the existence of hostilities that have reached levels of intensity, duration, and internationalization that historically were considered sufficient to bring the whole jus in bello into play.
conventions, and international environmental law. Part II examines the impact of
armed conflict on the environment, the diminishing capacity of the Earth to absorb
environmental catastrophe, the resulting need for new environmental rights and legal
protections, how a new multilateral convention might serve these ends, and the Fifth
Geneva Convention proposed by Greenpeace International. Part III will then consider whether a new convention to protect the environment during armed conflict is likely in the foreseeable future. Part IV analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of existing law, focusing on the problem of weak enforcement, aspects of effective enforcement and the compelling need for preventative enforcement remedies. Finally, Part V discusses the use of armed forces as a means to deter, prevent, and punish unjustified environmental damage during armed conflict. This part examines the threshold for use of force in this context and a new “greenkeeping” role for armed forces modeled on peacekeeping.
belligerency in non-international armed conflict (NIAC) and, by looking at civil wars in the 19th and 20th Centuries, come to a better understanding of why recognition of belligerency fell into disuse and why the practice is unlikely to be revived. But even if a revival of recognition of belligerency is impractical or unlikely, there is a legal process that is functionally, albeit unintentionally, equivalent: authorization of collective military intervention by the United Nations Security Council. Issued only when a threat to international peace and security has been found to exist, a United Nations Security Council resolution authorizing intervention in a NIAC attests, in practice, to the existence of hostilities that have reached levels of intensity, duration, and internationalization that historically were considered sufficient to bring the whole jus in bello into play.