Risks and Threats of Climate Change to Chile's Security: The Third Pandemic?

Sebastián Valdés De Ferari

What occurred last year with the so-called ‘social outbreak,’ the current difficulties in managing the coronavirus pandemic, along with the unrelenting territorial conflict of decades in the southern region of the country, have confirmed that the intelligence and security institutions of our country require an update and expansion of their scope of action.

In fact, the presidential message of the bill that ‘Strengthens and Modernizes the State’s Intelligence System’ presented to Congress in 2018 (Bill No. 12.234-02), currently in the second constitutional process in the Chamber of Deputies, states that ‘The current State Intelligence System (SIE) is based on premises that do not adequately respond to current needs.‘ and that ‘it is imperative, in the pursuit of executing internal and external security policies and decisions, to have a functional and coordinated intelligence system capable of collecting, gathering, producing, and systematizing intelligence information, to be made available to the central authority responsible for safeguarding the State’s critical infrastructure, and ultimately, the well-being of the people.‘, to prevent the fragility demonstrated in the past from undermining Chile’s democratic system.

Among those ‘current needs’ are a series of risks that, based on undeniable international consensus and scientific evidence, and given the recognized exposure of our country to their consequences, the State of Chile will need to manage in the future. These arise from the implications for state security of the various global warming scenarios anticipated by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

*The comments and opinions expressed in this document represent the views of the authors, not necessarily those of the institution.

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