2008June25: “We judge global climate change will have wide-ranging implications for US national security interests over the next 20 years. Although the United States will be less affected and is better equipped than most nations to deal with climate change, and may even see a benefit owing to increases in agriculture productivity, infrastructure repair and replacement will be costly. We judge that the most significant impact for the United States will be indirect and result from climate-driven effects on many other countries and their potential to seriously affect US national security interests. We assess that climate change alone is unlikely to trigger state failure in any state out to 2030, but the impacts will worsen existing problems—such as poverty, social tensions, environmental degradation, ineffectual leadership, and weak political institutions. Climate change could threaten domestic stability in some states, potentially contributing to intra- or, less likely, interstate conflict, particularly over access to increasingly scarce water resources. We judge that economic migrants will perceive additional reasons to migrate because of harsh climates, both within nations and from disadvantaged to richer countries,” wrote Thomas Fingar, the chairman of the National Intelligence Council, in an unclassified statement to the US select intelligence committee (NY Times, 2008).
Reference: New York Times. 2008. http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/25/reports-energy-thirst-still-topping-climate-risks/
Image Description: Desplazados internos de Darfur junto a uno de los depósitos de agua del campo de Ardamata en Geneina (Darfur Occidental). Photo by Nite Owl, 2007Jan1. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:356805018_423fd5f323_b.jpg Image Permission: This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License.
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This post is tagged 2000s Climate Change Events, 21st Century and Climate Change, Advanced Economies and Climate Change Effects, Agriculture and Climate Change, Climate Change Effects, Conflict and Climate Change, Drought, Ecosystem Changes, National Security and Climate Change, North America and Climate Change, Poverty and Climate Change, United States and Climate Change
