Climate change as an international security threat

Climate change as an international and national security threat

Climate change is viewed by several countries as a national security threat and the nation’s world over view it as an international security threat. For instance, the USA recognises climate change as a major threat to all its national defence operations and training plan. In the last several years the country has borne the brunt of climate change with several natural calamities befalling on it. The rising global temperatures have led to increase in sea levels, extreme weather conditions and related events in the country. Africa is one of the main continents that are likely to face the stresses from climate change. The drought and water scarcity issues in the North African regions are likely to intensify, while the Nile Delta could face the risk of the rising sea levels and loss of lives for 5 million people in the next 30 years. The reduced rainfall in the Horn of Africa could result in further scarcity of resources and trigger more conflicts in this conflict zone. Due to the food shortages people can migrate to Europe in search of better living prospects (Zakieldeen, 2009) .

TheArctic and theAntarctica are bearing the maximum brunt of global warming. The melting polar ice caps have caused increase in waterbodies and waterways for trade routes. The abundant hydrocarbon resources in the continent have generated interests from several European countries. For instance, Russia has planted its flag in the North Pole. The growing territorial claims by the super powers in the European region and increase access of the new trade routes through the Arctic may pose a security threat to Europe overall. South Asia has also been suffering from rising sea levels and threatening the lives and livelihood of almost of half of Asia’s total population. The impact will be felt on the people who lose their livelihood and also fall prey to infectious diseases. The melting of the Himalayan glaciers will be a cause of worry to people in the Indian subcontinent and parts of Central Asia, like Kyrgyzstan that has lost about 1000 glaciers in last 40 years. The melting glaciers tend to wreak havoc in the region and could give rise to further conflicts among people for a share in the available resources (ICIMOD, 2009) .

However climate change crosses borders to become an international threat to world peace. The extreme weather events and related calamities world over will increase the chances of poverty, hunger, famine and conflict conditions in several affected countries. Conflicts would increase the threat to world security and cross border terrorism. The instability in several countries and the spread of epidemics is a result of global warming. Some of the major forms of conflicts as a result of climate change are briefly listed and discussed as below:
a)Conflict over resources - The climate change brings with itself decrease in resources like reduction of arable land, depleting sources of renewable and non-renewable energy, diminishing sea food stocks, flooding and draughts. Water and food shortage can cause civil unrest, where the state would in turn start to blame the ruling government for its condition. The impact of the consequences of these conflicts could be felt more in areas which tend to experience demographic pressures. It could even lead to job losses (Scheffran, et al., 2012) .

b) Damage to coastal infrastructure – Natural calamity for example a tsunami or a typhoon can wreak havoc in coastal cities with well-developed infrastructure to aid the economy. The tsunami in Japan damaged the nuclear reactor plants in the coastal town, thereby aggravating the danger of uranium leakage and subsequentcontamination of food and water. The nuclear reactor that served as a source of renewable energy and for defence purposes was thus damaged badly in the wake of the tsunami. The sea level rise and increase in such natural disasters could be a threat to economic and defence prospects of coastal countries, especially in the vulnerable Asia Pacific region, Caribbean and Central America. The donations made to the affected countries can cost dearly to the donor countries whose resources would also be depleting as a result. Therefore natural disasters such as these are never national and have an international impact (European Commission, 2008) .

c)Loss of territories due to border disputes- The receding coastlines as a result of the submergence of land can, in a few years could lead to loss of territory and small island nations may soon disappear. More territorial border and maritime border disputes are likely to take place as powerful countries are likely to take control of less powerful ones. Areas that are vulnerable to global warming related events like the Polar Regions could become be easily exploited due to global warming and its energy resources may be used off in a few years (Stephens & VanderZwaag, 2014) .

d) Migration - Climate change may force some inhabitants of a region to move to other places that are better placed in terms of availability of resources and better living conditions. People living in places with poor health conditions, scarce resources and unemployment tend to move to other places and thus create a demographic imbalance in the new land that they inhabit. Some countries that are vulnerable to climate change have asked the UN for an international recognition of such environmentally forced migrations (Witsenburg & Roba, 2007) .

e)Fragile situation -The government of countries that are prone to natural disasters and other negative impact of climate change generally have limited capacities to meet the challenges. If the government does not do much to meet the needs of its people then it could lead to frustration among the citizens. There could be ethnic and religious classes nationally that could even have cross border or international repercussions (Mearns & Norton, 2010) .

f)Energy supply- Energy resources are most affected due to the global warming phenomena and the competition to its depletion continues to be a cause of instability and concern for nations. The hydrocarbon reserves and fossil fuels are affected by climate change and continue to deplete. The use of nuclear energy for power generation is an option that governments can pursue however it would violate the non-proliferation treaties that most countries have signed (World Nuclear Association, 2014) .

g)International governance at stake-The multilateral international government mechanisms are at stake if the threats and conflicts arising out of climate change are not addressed. The climate change tensions and policies have caused a lot of international political tensions as no country wants to burden itself with the rising share of emissions. The international security is therefore stressed (Knieling & Filho, 2012)

Conclusion

From the above discussion it can be concluded that climate change is an environmental threat and danger to mankind and his ecosystem. The only way that nations can minimise climate induced conflicts is to live and function in an environmentally sustainable manner. UN Security Council along with the other G8 and UN member countries must co-operate in order to monitor the potential security threats as a result of this. A comprehensive global migration policy especially applicable for regions that see climate induced migration should be formed. Enhanced support for mitigating climatechange and ensure sustainability of resources, should be provided to the third world countries. Effective governance in mitigating climate induced conflicts and risks is an area that has been largely ignored in literature. However in order to break the cycle of climate induced risks, the paper recommends effective governance especially in the third world countries. Adaptation to climate change should also become the way of life for several communities who live in places that are vulnerable to threats induced by the change. Instead of conflicts or migration, people should adapt to the change through education, socio economic developments, improved productivity and constant aid from the government