2023/24 Taught Postgraduate Module Catalogue

SOEE5866M Climate Security

30 creditsClass Size: 50

Module manager: Olaf Corry
Email: T.O.Corry@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2023/24

Pre-requisite qualifications

Physical Climate Change, Impacts and mitigation.

Social and Political Dimensions of the Climate Challenge

Module replaces

Climate Security PIED5580M

This module is not approved as an Elective

Module summary

This module takes up how and why climate change is increasingly linked to ideas of ‘security’. It evaluates the interlinked scientific (e.g., climate sensitivity, scenarios, tipping-points) and political debates concerning ‘overshoot’, urgency and ‘climate emergency’. We consider vulnerability and adaptation strategies, but also more drastic measures to secure ecosystems, human habitats and societal values, such as large-scale carbon removal or geoengineering and rapid societal changes.

Objectives

The module will blend the science of a ‘climate emergency’ with social science analysis of security dynamics and logics as they relate to climate change. Taking examples of that covers deep ocean circulation, sea level rise, sea ice loss, more extreme emissions- and high sensitivity-scenarios, and the case of the Amazon rainforest, students will engage with the scientific and political questions and dilemmas attached to ‘securitising’ the climate: what are the critical tipping points key ecosystems and when will they be encountered? Which actors are called upon to solve climate related security challenges? Do climatic changes lead to or predetermine societal conflicts, migration and crises? What are potential policy-implications of (a declaration of) a climate emergency – will or should it lead to consideration of geoengineering or radical societal transformations?

Learning on this module will include a (disaster) film screening, theoretical and conceptual teaching around how declarations of emergency and security can have political effects by moving or reframing a problem in certain ways, augmenting attention and ‘political will’, but often in ways that favour security-actors and solutions. Students will dig deeper into tipping point debates, and examine projections and data sets related to impacts, examining the case of the Sudan civil war often touted as a ‘climate war’, to critically examine the causal claims and consider wider roots of conflict and migration such as Bangladesh. A case study of the Amazon as a socio-ecological site will provide both natural science depth to the changes being wrought and the role of security forces and globalised notions of the Amazon as ‘critical infrastructure’ for the globe. Guest lectures and a roundtable debate on geoengineering and radical climate mitigation will round off the module.

Learning outcomes
At the end of this module, students will be able to…

1. Compare and evaluate the implications of different ways of interpreting and pursuing ‘climate security’.  

2. Assess how and whether ongoing and abrupt climate changes might exacerbate national security challenges and threaten/or human security or wider ecological integrity, e.g., considering tipping points and extremes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere (ice) and biosphere.

3. Analyse how mitigation, adaptation and geoengineering can create new insecurities in (inter)state politics, people’s livelihoods, and the natural world 

4. Interpret the scientific data for monitoring climate, e.g., changes in Earth’s ice, oceans, atmosphere, and biosphere.

5. Explain which actors and climate solutions are empowered and promoted through different climate security-framings.  

6. Communicate climate security mindfully yet effectively to avoid unintended consequences of climate emergency rhetoric.   

Skills outcomes
At the end of the module students should be able to:

- Identify, analyse, synthesise and present relevant data and arguments

- Critical thinking, reading and writing,

- Applying academic concepts and theories to complex climate issues

- Systems thinking, integrated problem solving,

- Oral and written communication skills,

Syllabus

Introductory disaster movie, e.g. The Day After Tomorrow.

The concept of security – ‘reason of state’, existential threats and emergency measures. How have environmental factors been thought to cause insecurity (from Thomas Malthus to the US military)?

Tipping points and cascading risks. What are the physical and social ‘runaway’ dynamics that are on the table? Including:

Emergencies of the seas, deep ocean circulation slowing, and sea level rise – what is the prognosis, possible impacts, can it cause mass migration and security implications? Case study e.g. Bangladesh as a future climate migration security risk generator.

Observation security – how is satellite data generated and used to assess sea ice? What are the security roots and uses of satellite geo-data – how is sea ice loss monitored?

Climate change and conflict – is there a statistical link and how is it supposed to work? Examining Sudan as a case study – what are the regional climate stresses and what other causes of migration and conflict do climate security discourses obscure?

What roles do militaries and state security claim to play in relation to climate change? Examining biome transformation – the Amazon as a site of climatic change and securitized environmental, economic and indigenous security politics.

Potential ‘emergency’ policies – (solar and carbon) geoengineering vs. radical societal transformations and rapid decarbonisation.

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Supervision	1	1.00	1.00
Lecture	4	1.00	4.00
Lecture	19	1.00	19.00
Practical	1	3.00	3.00
Practical	2	2.00	4.00
Seminar	2	2.00	4.00
Seminar	2	3.00	6.00
Seminar	4	1.00	4.00
Independent online learning hours			45.00
Private study hours			210.00
Total Contact hours			45.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			300.00

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Formative feedback will be provided directly to students during seminars, in-class discussion of their ideas and results during practical activities) and optional drop-in sessions on assessments 1 & 2.

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Assignment	1000 word ‘op-ed’ blog column/persuasive writing piece on a chosen theme related to climate security debates, e.g., what role might militaries play in ensuring ‘climate security'.	30.00
Essay	3000-words on set questions linking scientific and political dimensions of climate security.	70.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		100.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 25/08/2023

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