Oceania Human Security Laboratory Research Expansion on Ebeye Island, Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of t
Abstract
Climate-focused technical and economic improvements to human security are critical to peace and stability within the US Navy?s Pacif,ic AOR. Research supporting that position is available through multiple institutions showing that there are perhaps 12 key sectors c,ritical to successful human societies that are appropriate for climate mitigation research in the Marshall Islands. Of those 12 we i,ntend to approach four that we will discuss in the Narrative but, beyond those four, we also intend to incorporate the research find,ings from the ONR-funded complexity research underway on climate-stressed urban populations in Santiago, Chile. While the approach i,n the Marshall Islands is the coordination of research on human sustainability in the face of existential environmental crises withi,n a low-resource environment, the work in Chile can help complete the theoretical underpinnings that will eventually contribute to t,he development of a coherent picture around human security in a global climate crisis. Our research technique in the Marshall?s will, use Integrative Design principles from the Rocky Mountain Institute while incorporating research published by the National Industri,al Symbiosis Programme in Denmark. In consultation with academic partners, government agencies, and the Rocky Mountain Institute, we, intend to demonstrate the value of early technical opportunities that can be evaluated by indigenous communities rapidly, and then,optimized for interaction with each other. With insight from those most at risk, we?ll be able to provide advances in performance th,at are matched by reductions in cost and improved ease of implementation by using a design methodology that looks favorably at calcu,lated interdependencies, life-cycle optimization, and materials science. By working with the indigenous communities on Ebeye, our ef,fort is intended to be both uplifting for the Marshall Islands and illuminating ? through a rigorous research-based approach ? for t,he rest of the world that is also likely to be impacted by environmental change in the decades ahead. These results will contribute,to the development of new scientific methods for data collection and will contribute to the development of models and indicators for, global climate change in Oceania that could be applicable to other regions in Asia-Pacific and beyond. Those, in turn will help to,forecast change and improve estimates of human security outcomes. This work will also pioneer new approaches to the study of climate, change and human security in this region profoundly at risk. Those new approaches may contribute to the development of processes an,d tools that are needed by the Navy to manage complex humanitarian assistance/disaster relief operations elsewhere in Oceania.If any, of our research initiatives are successful enough to move toward operationalization at scale, it will be because we were recognized, as able to improve local conditions on Ebeye. If we can do that, we will also be serving American national security interests by cr,eating better living standards for local Marshallese staff serving the Ballistic Missile Testing Site, easing the worst symptoms of,economic inequality, improving goodwill towards America, and mitigating reasons for unrest or a shift in allegiance toward China.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Aug 05, 2022
- Source ID
- N000142212612
Entities
People
- Eric Rasmussen
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy