About CASAN

As climate change accelerates, networks and partnerships play an essential role in creating and sharing the knowledge required to respond to emerging threats, and in developing and piloting innovative solutions to mitigate climate and environmental risks.

The primary aims of the CASAN are: 

  • To promote cooperation and coordination
  • To promote the carrying out of participatory research and dissemination of the results, and  
  • To facilitate information exchange and knowledge sharing

… among the partner organisations, networks and projects and their respective associates, members and participants. 

The entities involved in the CASAN are:

Environment & Development Resource Centre (EDRC) 

  • Founded 1991

The EDRC serves as a catalyst for new initiatives to redress shortcomings in the international environment and development policymaking process. The Centre acts as an independent 'honest broker,' commissioning and carrying out innovative studies and promoting cooperation between environment, development, and peace movements, between researchers and activists, and between civil society and policymakers.

Website: https://www.edrc.net/

Brussels Dialogue on Climate Diplomacy (BDCD)

The BDCD – coordinated by EDRC - is an informal network for the exchange of information and the promotion of cooperation among European institutions, international organizations, NGOs and think-tanks active in the nexus between climate change and international, national, human and environmental security. Started up in 2026 there have been 17 regular meetings of the dialogue since as well as 3 international conferences. 

Website: https://www.brusselsdialogue.net/

North-Atlantic Civil-Society Working-Group on Environment and Security (NCWES)

  • Founded 2020
  • 50 Representatives of 25 Participating Organisations
  • 18 Individual Members
  • 30 writers and contributors

The NCWES is a network organisations and independent experts from academia, NGOs, think tanks and action groups who produced the report “Sustainable Peace & Security in a Changing Climate: Recommendations for NATO 2030” [PDF] providing 116 policy options and practical recommendations to help strengthen NATO in a time of new environmental-related challenges in the interest of promoting sustainable peace and security for all.

Webpage: https://www.brusselsdialogue.net/ncwes

Project CASA on Climate and Security Action through Civil-Military Cooperation in Climate-Related Emergencies

Project CASA conducted the first of its kind research on civil-military partnerships and cooperation in responding to climate emergencies, collecting a unique cross-national dataset on military involvement in climate-related disasters. 

The project studies the extent to which NATO and selected non-NATO countries have engaged their national militaries in responding to climate-related emergencies. It examines trends in these responses over time, the degree to which national militaries have the resources and mechanisms needed to prepare for and respond to these emergencies, and the consequences for force composition and readiness from participation in civil protection operations. The project does so through an interdisciplinary network of experts who are working to collect, analyse, and publish data on relevant military activities and civil-military cooperation.

Project CASA aims to provide actionable data for decision makers, stakeholders, and the wider public on how militaries are working together with civilian emergency management agencies within countries and across international borders.

Given the growing importance of preparedness for climate emergencies, Project CASA partners are working to extend and expand the original initiative through a new Climate and Security Action Network (CASAN). 

Website: https://www.project-casa.org/

Global Military Advisory Council on Climate Change (GMACCC)

GMACCC - coordinated by EDRC - is an authoritative voice on the need for, and the nature of, action to be taken by the security community to reduce the risks posed to national security by a changing climate. 

GMACCC is composed of individual members—who are serving and retired military leaders and security professionals from around the world— and partner organizations working on climate security issues across the globe.

Website: https://www.gmaccc.org/

Promoting knowledge sharing and cooperation

Each of the above has a strong track record in carrying out groundbreaking research, convening pioneering multidisciplinary events and promoting knowledge sharing and cooperation among scientific experts, policy makers and practitioners dealing with the nexus between climate change and international, national, human and environmental security. 

CASAN will complement rather than duplicate the efforts of the above and other organisations and networks working on climate security. The network offers a particular emphasis on civil-military cooperation involving a unique combination of current and former government officials, members of civil society, scholars, scientists, and students, from NATO members and partners and other countries around the world. The network also aims to have a multiplier effect. Members of CASAN, for example, are also members of related initiatives such as the Community of Practice on Environment, Climate, Conflict, and Peace (ECCP) and others which regularly contribute to learning that bridges the environmental peacebuilding and climate security communities. 

CASAN is well placed to support and promote attention to other key climate security actors, and in particular NATO’s Climate and Security Action Plan, the NATO Climate Change and Security Centre of Excellence (CCASCOE) including with regard to their attention to awareness, adaptation, and mitigation, as well as education and training, research and analysis and strategic policy recommendations, etc. For example, we will also work to promote and support the European Security and Defence College (ESDC) and its Climate Change, Environment, Security and Defence Configuration (CCESD).

While CASAN’s focus builds on research conducted under the first phase of Project CASA, the network will have a broader remit, in coordinating research and promoting cooperation with respect to other aspects of climate security action as well.