Global warming security risks
2020.03.09
CLIMATE change could become a catastrophic threat to global security, as people lose their livelihoods, fall ill and battle over scarce water and food, a host of US security, military and intelligence experts warned.
Pressures from global warming could intensify political tensions, unrest and conflict, fuel violent extremism and break down government security systems, the experts said in a report by the Centre of Climate and Security, a nonpartisan policy institute.
War-torn countries in Africa (非洲) and the Middle East (中東) were cited as most at risk, but industrialised regions are also vulnerable, it said.
“Even at scenarios of low warming, each region of the world will face severe risks to national and global security in the next three decades,” the report said.
“Higher levels of warming will pose catastrophic, and likely irreversible, global security risks over the course of the 21st century.”
Concerns over the impact of climate change have led to calls to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow the pace of global warming amid instances of climate-related extreme weather such as wildfires and floods.
The research, released on 24 February, warned of displaced populations driven from their homes by rising heat, drought and dwindling water and food supplies.
“We’re really looking at a bleak future if we see more and more countries become fragile,” said Rod Schoonover, a former intelligence analyst and co-author of the report.
(This article is published on Junior Standard on 9 March 2020)
The Centre for Climate and Security
Climate change
