At a recent Wilson Center event, experts gathered for the launch of The U.S. Asia-Pacific Rebalance, National Security, and Climate Change, a report produced by the Washington DC-based Center for Climate and Security in partnership with Carnegie Mellon University, the Center for a New American Security, and the University of Oxford. The report discusses the growing attention that climate change is receiving as a security policy concern, and the United States’ policy of “rebalance” toward the Asia-Pacific. Commenting on the past neglect that Asia has experienced is CEPSA researcher and LBJ School Associate Professor Joshua Busby and CEPSA Graduate Research Assistant Nisha Krishnan.

Contributing a chapter to the report, Busby and Krishnan discuss the lack of attention and resources that are focused on the climate-security vulnerabilities of Asia. Although Asia routinely has the most people affected by climate related disasters in the world, a disproportionate amount of US development and humanitarian aid is directed to Africa. Busby and Krishnan assert that the “patterns of resource allocation” deserve further research and attention in order to adequately address climate-security threats in the region.