TECHNICAL SESSIONS - SICC 2026

SESSION 12 – Emerging Risks: Climate, Conflict, Food Security & Space Weather Impacts on CBRNe Systems

The interplay between climate change, geopolitical tensions, technological evolution, and space weather phenomena is generating increasingly complex and interconnected risk environments. This session explores how environmental degradation, conflict dynamics, and both terrestrial and extra-atmospheric drivers contribute to compound and cascading threats affecting safety, health, critical infrastructure, and global stability.

In particular, attention is given to the role of space weather and ionospheric variability, including ionospheric scintillation and disturbances, in influencing the reliability of satellite-based systems (GNSS, communication, early warning networks) that are essential for CBRNe monitoring, response, and coordination. Disruptions in positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) systems can critically impact emergency management, border control, and hazard assessment during CBRNe events.

Topics include NaTech (Natural–Technological) disasters, industrial accidents driven by extreme weather, radiological releases during floods or wildfires, and the spread of vector-borne diseases into new regions. The session also addresses food safety and food security, including contamination pathways, nutritional crises, and the concept of “food war” as an emerging geopolitical and hybrid threat.

Special emphasis is placed on the interaction between space weather, atmospheric physics, and ground-based CBRNe risk scenarios, highlighting vulnerabilities in technological infrastructures and the need for integrated monitoring systems that combine ionospheric physics, environmental data, and CBRNe modelling tools.

Contributions highlighting adaptation strategies, early warning systems, anticipatory action, and cross-sector cooperation between civil protection, agriculture, health authorities, and space weather and atmospheric science communities are particularly encouraged. The aim is to strengthen resilience through integrative policies and innovative methodologies that connect science, governance, and community preparedness across both terrestrial and space-influenced domains.

Keywords. CBRNe Nexus; NaTech; Emerging Risks; Food Security; Conflict; Adaptation; Anticipatory Action; Environmental Health; Public Health Resilience; Space Weather; Ionospheric Scintillation; GNSS Vulnerability; PNT Systems; Atmospheric Physics; Satellite Systems Resilience