World's Armed forces will feel climate change strain
Pastor Dale Morgan
World's Armed forces will feel climate change strain*
By Jeremy Lovell in London
January 24, 2008 02:52pm
Article from: Reuters
SECURITY forces around the world will face tough new challenges as
climate change unleashes violent storms, raises sea levels and causes
floods and famines, a new report warns.
Up to 200 million people could become environmental refugees by the
middle of the century, bringing to one billion the number of people
displaced by conflicts, natural disasters and large development
projects, the Oxford Research Group report said.
"It is crucial that governments begin to take steps now towards
developing effective policy solutions for the police, security services
and military to help them adapt to the new and changing demands," said
author Chris Abbott.
"However, they must resist the temptation to use force to try and
control insecurity and maintain the status quo. In this instance,
prevention really is the only cure."
The Oxford Research Group is an independent think-tank that regularly
issues reports on global security issues. Abbott's report is titled An
uncertain future - law enforcement, national security and climate change.
While climate-related events would put new strains on the security
services, governments' responses to global warming could give rise to
militant environmental groups using terror tactics to make their points,
the report said.
"In the US, the FBI ... currently consider 'eco-terrorism' to be one of
the most serious domestic terrorism threats," the report said, noting an
upsurge in violent rhetoric among a small group of environmental extremists.
It said the melting of ice caused by rising temperatures could raise sea
levels by at least 1m this century and that more than 17 million
Bangladeshis lived in that danger zone.
Key military bases such as the major US base on Diego Garcia in the
Indian Ocean could also be swamped by rising sea levels.
The report said food, water and energy - essential for human survival -
were already in short supply in many parts of the world and shortages
would worsen as populations grew and weather patterns changed.
Scientists say global average temperatures will rise by between 1.8C
4.0C this century as a result of the burning of fossil fuels for
transport and power generation.
The developing world insists that the rich developed nations which have
caused most of the pollution do most to reduce the harmful emissions.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni had, on several occasions, referred to
climate change as an act of aggression by the rich against the poor, the
report noted.
But climate change also had the potential to change the world in both
geographical and political terms as coastlines retreated, island nations
were swamped and national borders were put under pressure, it said.
New disputes might also arise as melting ice opened up viable shipping
routes through the Arctic such as the Northwest Passage, where there was
already tension between Canada and the US, the report said.