Crisis Convergence: Where Climate Challenges and Security Intersect

financialexpress.com:

By Anadi

Based on the ERA5 data sourced from the EU-funded Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), the initial three weeks of July have exhibited unprecedented warmth, establishing a historical milestone as the warmest consecutive three-week period on record. Concurrently, the month appears poised to ascend to the status of the hottest July and the hottest month ever documented. These elevated temperatures have been concomitant with the occurrence of heatwaves in extensive regions across North America, Asia, and Europe, which, in tandem with wildfires prevalent in countries such as Canada and Greece, have imparted substantial repercussions on human health, environmental integrity, and economic systems. Climate change functions as a “threat multiplier” intensifying pre-existing security vulnerabilities. 

The crux of the danger lies not in climate change alone, but in its intricate interplay with current security contexts. Consequently, climate change introduces a spectrum of direct and indirect threats to human, national, and international security landscapes. Climate change is frequently interpreted as a phenomenon that intensifies the impacts of persistent poverty, inadequacies in resource management and conflict resolution institutions, historical divisions, mutual distrust among communities and nations, and limited access to vital information or resources, thereby exacerbating existing threats.

Moreover, the security threats arising from climate change intertwine—water scarcity impacts food security, while food security might heighten social turbulence and aggression. It is imperative to focus more closely on how these interconnections influence specific themes or geographical regions.

According to the conventional