GCOCS 2012 - GCOCS 2012 : Global Conference on Oceans, Climate and Security

Forward thinkers across disciplines are raising awareness about the effects of a changing climate on national and human security. Specifically, a new focus is emerging on how climate change impacts ocean systems and the oceans’ subsequent vital role in exacerbating or mitigating these impacts. Thus, understanding the inter-connectedness between oceans, climate and security is increasingly crucial to our collective future. For instance, ocean acidification and warming, melting polar ice and sea level rise each pose critical threats to human populations, natural systems and global security.

Some threats are direct such as drought impacts on global food security, and damage to civilian and military infrastructure caused by increasing frequency and intensity of storms and sea-level rise. Other threats are significant but less direct such as a decrease in agricultural productivity, forced migration of coastal populations, and destabilizations of economies due to the ocean’s reduced capacity to regulate climate and provide for human needs.

The First Global Conference on Oceans, Climate and Security (GCOCS) is designed to:

Raise the awareness level of the threat of climate change to our oceans and the consequent threat to our human and national security;

Identify and prioritize the knowledge gaps in science and technology which inhibit understanding, response and adaptation to future threats;

Generate comprehensive human security policy and governance recommendations reflecting the climate, ocean, and security continuum.

Over three days, GCOCS attendees will explore complex, cross-sector topics and strategies through interactive methods such as multi-disciplinary plenary and World café sessions.

GCOCS 2012 is a signature event of The Collaborative Institute for Oceans, Climate and Security at the University of Massachusetts Boston and is proudly co-presented by Battelle Memorial Institute.