Jane CORDY (Canada)
19 October 2018
18 November 2018 - Civil protection occupies an important place in NATO’s comprehensive approach to security. This report will focus on two regions where this aspect of security has become particularly acute in recent years: the High North and the Mediterranean.In the High North, climate change, technological advances and renewed competition between Allies and Russia have led to growing civilian, economic and military activity.
These factors, in turn, complicate efforts to protect civilians, which are already made difficult by the sheer size of the High North, the harsh climate and the lack of infrastructure.The Mediterranean region faces a different type of civil protection challenge: the scale of the refugee/migrant crisis prompted by turbulence in the Middle East and North Africa region.
This report provides thorough assessment of these challenges, takes stock of the existing civil protection - primarily Search and Rescue (SAR) - capabilities in these regions, and discusses ways of improving the multilateral responses to these challenges, including NATO’s potential role.
