G8 Climate Pledge is Good for Security Environment Too

The G-8 Summit got a twofer this week. In making a commitment to address global climate change, they have also taken a step toward making the global security environment better, too. Slowly, but reasonably surely, the recognition is growing that there's a link between the climate and terrorism. In April, the Military Advisory Board, a panel made up of former generals, made the case that climate change is a security issue.Droughts and storms can exacerbate already fragile political, social and political situations, and destabilize even stable countries. Extreme environmental conditions can leave people hungry and thirsty, diseased, homeless, completely uprooted and thus vulnerable to extremist ideologies.

According to a Board member, Admiral T. Joseph Lopez, the former Commander-in-Chief of U.S. Naval Forces Europe and of Allied Forces, Southern Europe, the links between climate changes and violent extremism are direct:

Climate change will provide the conditions that will extend the war on terror … You have very real changes in natural systems that are most likely to happen in regions of the world that are alreadyfertile ground for extremism. Droughts, violent weather, ruined agricultural lands—those are the kinds of stresses we'll see more of under climate change . . . More poverty, more forced migrations, higher unemployment. Those conditions are ripe for extremists and terrorists.

Lopez and the rest of the military board conclude that military solutions are not enough. Politics, diplomacy, business and non-governmental organizations will have to work together to prevent terrorism before it starts, in part by working to make sure climate change doesn't do its worst damage on already delicate societies.

Also see: Full report: National Security and the Threat of Climate Change (free download) | Bush Announces U.S. Plan to Tackle Global Warming (Larry West, Environmental Issues) | Causes and Effects of Global Warming (Larry West, Environmental Issues)