Interior Department Hosts Interagency Meeting on Utilizing Science to Inform Climate Security Policy

Date: Friday, September 29, 2023
Contact: Interior_Press@ios.doi.gov

WASHINGTON—The Department of the Interior this week led an interagency meeting focused on using science and data to combat the impacts of the climate crisis around the globe.

On Thursday, 52 representatives from 19 federal agencies attended the security policy meeting, co-led by the Interior Department, the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, and the National Security Council. The meeting identified ways to leverage scientific capabilities housed within agencies to inform climate security policymaking as part of the Biden-Harris administration’s historic steps to advance the use of science and data to inform policymaking.

“Our domestic science agencies are leading the world in providing the insights needed to tackle the climate crisis both at home and abroad,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary for Water and Science Dr. Annalise Blum. “Demonstrating the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to promoting evidence-based policy, this meeting provided a critical forum for our science and national security agencies to identify ways to further leverage our scientific capabilities to address the security implications of climate change.”

The meeting served to highlight not only the critical role the Interior Department plays in providing science to address the climate crisis domestically, but also the ways in which our science supports interagency partners focused on the security impacts of the climate crisis around the world.

This meeting came as Secretary Deb Haaland delivered remarks at the White House Climate Resilience Summit, accompanying the release of the National Climate Resilience Framework. The Interior Department this week released four updated Departmental Manual policies to strengthen the agency’s ability to meet its mission in the face of a changing climate. In service to this effort, science agencies within the Department, including the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), are using the best-available science to offer in-depth and long-term perspectives on landscape, environmental and ecological change. USGS’s long-term datasets help decision-makers understand how to factor Earth’s changing climate into mission-critical decisions and activities.

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