Climate change

Climate change is high on both domestic and international political agendas as countries face up to the huge environmental challenges the world now faces. Whilst this attention is welcome, less energy is being focused on the inevitable impact climate change will have on security issues. The well-documented physical effects of climate change will have knock-on socio-economic impacts, such as loss of infrastructure, resource scarcity and the mass displacement of peoples. These in turn could produce serious security consequences that will present new challenges to governments trying to maintain stability.

Risk of extreme weather events highlighted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Marlowe Hood | AFP | November 2011

Issue:Climate change

As reported by Agence France Presse, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has produced a draft summary of a report that warns of a predicted increase in the number and intensity of extreme weather events. The 800-page report goes some way to addressing a subject largely untouched by their landmark 2007 report on climate change, and adds to the growing body of evidence outlining the potential security implications of a warmer planet.

Article Source: AFP

Image Source: Nasa

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Posted on 16/11/11

Governments Must Plan for Migration in Response to Climate Change, Researchers Say

This story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Florida. The original article was written by Donna Hesterman | ScienceDaily | October 2011

Issue:Climate change

Governments around the world must be prepared for mass migrations caused by rising global temperatures or face the possibility of calamitous results, say University of Florida scientists on a research team reporting in the Oct. 28 edition of Science.

Image Source: Meredith James Johnstone

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Posted on 1/11/11

Security is not simply the absence of conflict

John L Smith | UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office - Climate Change Team | September 2011

Issue:Climate change

Blog entry from the Foriegn and Commonwealth Office on climate change and security:

What the scientific modelling makes clear is that if global temerepature continues to rise unabated, it will place significant additional stress on ALL economies, but that the emerging economies on this continent will be among the first to take real strain. Unchecked climate change will make the poorest even more vulnerable, with related food and water stress and climate migration. It will raise tension levels over access to diminishing resources, particularly water.

Climate change is therefore a threat mutliplier, and governments must be alive to the potential it has to disrupt sustainable growth and stability and exacerbate tensions within and between countries.

Article source: FCO Climate change team blog

Image source: climatesafety

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Posted on 30/09/11

Conflict, Climate Change, and Water Security in Sub-Saharan Africa

Oluwole Akiyode | peace and conflict monitor | September 2011

Issues:Climate change, Competition over resources

The paper is a review of literatures on conflict, climate change and water security on Sub-Saharan Africa. It identifies poverty as a threat in Sub-Saharan African countries that may have effect on its water security. It analyses in Sub-Saharan Africa region, the conflict trend of water security in correlation with climate change impacts. It advocates sustainable water management as the ameliorative and mitigation approaches to the negative effects of climate change on water security in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Article source: peace and conflict monitor

Image source: Abdurrahman Warsameh for the International Relations and Security Network

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Posted on 8/09/11

Climate Cycles Are Driving Wars, Says Study

Columbia University | The Earth Institute | August 2011

Issue:Climate change

In the first study of its kind, researchers have linked a natural global climate cycle to periodic increases in warfare. The arrival of El Niño, which every three to seven years boosts temperatures and cuts rainfall, doubles the risk of civil wars across 90 affected tropical countries, and may help account for a fifth of worldwide conflicts during the past half-century, say the authors.

Image source: The U.S. National Archives

Article source: The Earth Institute