Worldwide Emerging Environmental Issues Affecting The Us Military November 2009 Report

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Item 1 -- China and U.S. Announce Climate Change Goals; Item 2 -- Changes to War Crimes Proposed for the International Criminal Court; Item 3 -- Increased Calls for Banning Nonlethal Riot-control Agents; Item 4 -- Technological Advances with Environmental Security Implications, including New Technique Helps Reduce Nanoparticle Wastewater Pollution, Evaporation Provides Power in New Desalination System, Increasing Energy Efficiency Technologies, and Software Standards to Connect Data Globally; Item 5 -- Updates on Previously Identified Issues, including New Decisions Adopted for Strengthening the Montreal Protocol, UNECE Guidance on Water and Adaptation to Climate Change, International Gene Synthesis Consortium Created for Increasing Biosecurity, United Kingdom and U.S. Legislators Review Geoengineering Proposals, EPA Issues New Regulations on Water Pollution from Construction, Ultrathin Solar Panels Could End Up On the European Union list of Hazardous Materials Due to Cadmium Content, Climate Change (Scientific Evidence and Natural Disasters, Food and Water Security, Health, Melting Glaciers and Sea Ice, Rising Sea Levels, Migration, Adaptation, Climate Modeling, and Post-Kyoto Negotiations), and Nanotechnology Safety Issues; Item 6 -- Reports and Information Suggested for Review, including Climate Change Threats Increasingly Top Security Agendas, European Environment Agency Draws First Map of Europe's Noise Exposure, and Consumer's Handbook for Reducing Solid Waste.

The UN was organized 60 years ago around the principle of preventing national wars. Today it should be reorganized around the principle of addressing human security, which would reinvent global governance, proposes former Canadian foreign minister, Lloyd Axworthy. A UN cohesive response system able to rapidly deploy aid when and where necessary is needed now to efficiently respond to current civil conflicts and disasters. There may be an emerging consensus that human security could be the next organizing principle for international relations. Whether or not Lloyd Axworthy will promote the idea in the UN General Assembly, the idea of re-organizing the UN on human security issues could well be inevitable. The military should create alternative scenarios for such potential UN restructuring and study how it might contribute to and be affected by each scenario.

Table of Contents: "Copenhagen Accord" Brokered by President Obama at United Nations Climate Change Conference is a Step Forward in Negotiations -- Next Stop Mexico; Seven Tipping Elements That Could Transform the Planetary Systems; Emerging International Packaging Standards to Reduce Environmental Footprints; Studies Show Increased Hazards from Some Types of Airborne Particles; Technological Advances with Environmental Security Implications, including New Detection and Cleanup Techniques, New Technology to Measure Single Nanoparticles, NIST Awards Development Funding for Extended Sensor for Infrastructure Health, and Increasing Energy Efficiency Technologies; Updates on Previously Identified Issues, including Climate Change, No Enforcement Mechanism Proposed for Strengthening the Bioweapons Treaty Due to "rapidly changing nature" of the threat, China to Create an Emergency Environmental Management System, Toxic Compound Detected in Chlorinated Tap Water, Environmental Effects from Flame Retardant Manufacturing Impurities, Greenhouse Gas Emissions Increase Ocean Noise Pollution, Arctic "Pole of Peace" Suggested to Address Arctic Security Issues, Nuclear Disarmament Dilemma Continues, and Nanotechnology Safety Issues Item; Reports and Information Suggested for Review, including State of the World 2010 Calls for a New Paradigm in Addressing Security, Summary of European Battery Regulations Released, and Water Treatment Technologies for the Removal of High-Toxicity Pollutants. The Appendix contains expanded background information on some items.

1. International Standards Needed to Reduce Hi-tech SIMAD Threats; 2. New International Agreement on Recycling of Ships; 3. Technological Advances with Environmental Security Implications; 4. Updates on Previously Identified Issues; 5. Reports and Information Suggested for Review.

Topics concern worldwide emerging environmental issues affecting the U.S. Military such as: Item 1. Climate Change at the UN and G-20, Item 2. Chemicals Management to Address Emerging Technologies-related Issues, Item 3. Draft European Transboundary Guidance on Water and Adaptation to Climate Change, Item 4. Technological Advances with Environmental Security Implications, 4.1 New Detection and Cleanup Techniques, 4.2 A New Water Management Tool, 4.3 Electric Vehicle Powered by Sodium-Nickel-Chloride Batteries, Item 5. Updates on Previously Identified Issues, 5.1 UN Mission Assessment of Gaza Conflict Included Environmental Impacts, 5.2 UN Security Council Resolution on the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, 5.3 Observation and Information System for the World's Oceans to be Created, 5.4 Synthetic Gene Ordering Security Screening Up for Discussion, 5.5 Hazardous Waste Disposal of Increasing Concern, 5.6 Climate Change, 5.6.1 Scientific Evidence and Natural Disasters, 5.6.2 Food and Water Security, 5.6.3 Health, 5.6.4 Melting Glaciers and Sea Ice, .6.5.5 Rising Sea Levels, 5.6.6 Migration, 5.6.7 Computer Modeling, 5.6.8 Adaptation, 5.6.9 Post-Kyoto Negotiations, 5.7 Nanotechnology Safety Issues, Item 6. Reports and Information Suggested for Review, 6.1 Royal Society Issues Major Geo-engineering Report, 6.2 Energy Security Challenges for the 21st Century, 6.3 New Flood Center to Develop Warning Systems, and Appendix.

This report comprises the summary and analysis of environmental issues affecting the U.S. military. Some of the topics include: UN environmental mediation program, international standards on the treatment of the environment in war, EU-US joint energy efficiency standards for office equipment, biowaste treatment, technology advances with environmental security implications, marine environmental protection, human health, health hazards, water and food security, sea ice, rising sea levels, melting glaciers and sea ice,

Some topics discussed in this report are: food security, nuclear energy, environmental protection, technological advances, climate change, safety issues, nanotechnology, natural disasters, oceans, health, glaciers, sea ice, detectors, energy efficient technologies, seabed exploration, and clean water and sanitation.