Competition over resources
In the environmentally constrained but more populous world that can be expected over the course of this century, there will be greater scarcity of three key resources: food, water and energy. Demand for all three resources is already beyond that which can be sustained at current levels. Once population growth and the effects of climate change are factored in, it is clear that greater competition for such resources should be expected, both within and between countries, potentially leading in extreme cases to conflict.
The Human Security Report Project has published a new book exploring the links between climate change and conflicts over natural resources across Africa.
The New Security Beat comments on a recent report by the UN Secretary-General:
Although India's Maoists are largely politically motivated (see similar movements in Nepal and the Philippines), the country's Adivasi tribals, driven by grievances with the Indian government over decades-long resource mismanagement and systematic marginalization, are beginning to align with, and support, the Maoist insurgency, contributing to what has been described as India's “single biggest internal security challenge” - as an article from The New Security Beat reports.
As the Arctic’s ice continues to retreat, the Kremlin’s military forces are threatening to advance. In August 2007, Russia drew strong international condemnation when the crews of two underwater vessels descended to the depths of the Arctic Ocean and, in a symbolic gesture, planted the Russian flag on the seabed near the North Pole. Since then, Russian armed forces have regularly tested NATO’s air and sea defences in the Arctic, despatching warships to disputed areas of the Barents Sea and even carrying out a mock bombing run against Norway’s northern command centre at Bodø. As of March 2010, Russian parachutists were expected to drop at the North Pole in April, commemorating the 60th anniversary of the first airborne landing there.
