Perry Center Inaugural Climate Change Course
20230508 - CCIDS2023May - Day 1
Photo Credit: WJPC Staff
08 May 2023
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Keynote Speaker Mr. Joseph Bryan

On Monday, May 8, the William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies launched the resident phase of its inaugural climate change course, “Climate Change and Implications for Defense and Security (CCIDS).” Forty-three participants from 21 countries in the Americas and Africa will participate in the two-week course. The course content focuses on urgent climate mitigation efforts to slow global warming, which scientists from the United Nations have warned will cross 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2030 and 2.0 degrees Celsius by 2050. Senior Climate Advisor to the Secretary of Defense Joseph Bryan provided the keynote address.

The course will leverage the expertise of 30 guest speakers, more than half of them Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)-experienced scientists from the US or the region who have worked directly on UN Assessment Reports or other important climate/environmental research. Day 7 of the course is dedicated to hearing from climate scientists from the Americas about meteorological and environmental challenges in four sub-regions of the hemisphere: (1) Caribbean, (2) Central America and Mexico, (3) Andean Ridge, and (4) Southern Cone. Course participants will also visit the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Silver Spring, MD, and the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD.

The course is conducted in English and Spanish. Perry Center Professor Dr. Patrick Paterson is the course director, assisted by Dr. Alex Guerra Noriega of Guatemala, Dr. Erin McFee of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and Dr. Barbara Fick, also from the Perry Center.

Due to high interest and the number of requests from governments in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Perry Center will offer a second iteration of this course on July 10-21, 2023. Interested parties can find more information in the related links section.