This opinion article was written by GWSC Deputy Director Dr. Kate Brauman.

This July, I was lucky to have the opportunity to head to West Africa in support of the United States Africa Command’s 2024 iteration of their Security Implications of Climate Change conference (SICC24). Hosted by Cote d’Ivoire in Abidjan, a busy economic center on the Gulf of Guinea, military representatives from countries across the continent came together to share the wide range of ways they are addressing climate change, as well as discuss what they need to know to do so more effectively.

With such a wide range of participants, there was a ton of material and a lot to take in; here are my top three take aways:

There’s not a lot of climate change science in climate change conversations right now

GWSC’s stellar team of story, data, and map wranglers put together a brief highlighting the likely impacts of climate change in the Gulf of Guinea in 2035 that I was able to present to help set the stage for discussion. GWSC’s mission is to translate science for decision makers, and we work hard to ensure our products are legible at a glance by non-climate experts. Turns out this was a good thing (as always!), since I was one of the only scientists in the room.

In many ways this makes sense to me – many of the decisions and actions needed to address a changing climate don’t require a ton of data, and those conversations would likely get bogged down if we insisted on inserting it. For example, in this setting, one discussion focused on ways to improve civilian-military coordination for disaster response; that conversation hinges on knowing, generally, that climate-induced disasters will become more common, but doesn’t need the data-heavy specifics of when, where, and how that a tactical response needs. That said, when the science is well-interpreted, it can and should change some of even those high-level conversations. Which leads me to takeaway number two.

Climate change means we’re going to have to reimagine military support for disaster response, and a whole lot of other things

I was surprised to learn what an integral role many militaries play in disaster response across Africa. In many cases, militaries are the most nimble, and well-funded, branch of government, and they provide critical services in response to floods, landslides, and even drought. Seeing folks acknowledge this, and work to streamline and improve civilian-military cooperation to make disaster response more effective, was heartening.

But what I didn’t hear much of was how, as climate change makes disasters ever more common, militaries will have less and less ability to respond. Today, disaster response is mostly tacked on to military organizations fundamentally designed for other purposes. As disasters become more common, personnel and logistics will be stretched beyond their ability to accommodate. Strategic foresight recognizes that when we stretch too far, we break, so we need to start working now to create new military-civilian approaches to disaster response. These new approaches are real climate adaptation, and I suspect we’ll need more science in the mix to figure out what adaptation looks like.

Agricultural and economic impacts of climate change matter for security, too

I was also heartened to be asked by military personnel for data on how climate change is likely to affect agriculture. Many countries throughout Africa rely heavily on agriculture, both for their overall GDP and as a primary source of employment. Climate-driven, large-scale impacts to the economy will alter support for militaries, and militaries know that. Strategic assessment and adaptation has to integrate cross-sectoral impacts of a changing climate.

SICC24 was an eye-opening conference, and I’ve already brought back insights to help our team build more relevant environmental security briefs. So much is already happening, and hearing about the range of ways countries across the continent are engaging with the realities of climate change left me feeling hopeful for the future. I also left feeling secure in the need for GWSC’s work. There’s so much great science out there, but it’s not yet getting into strategic conversations. And engaging productively with climate information is key to ensuring the security outcomes we want to see.