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Current Affairs
Published: April 23, 2008

Climate Change “May Put World at War”

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  • Climate Change “May Put World at War”
    • Climate impacts Current Affairs exports Paris taxes War
Andy Rowell

When not blogging for OCI, Andy is a freelance writer and journalist specializing in environmental issues.

[email protected]

Climate change could cause global conflicts as large as the two world wars but lasting for centuries unless the problem is controlled, a leading think tank has warned.
The Royal United Services Institute, based in the UK, said a tenfold increase in research spending, comparable to the amount spent on the Apollo space programme, will be needed if the world is to avoid the worst effects of changing temperatures.
However the group said the world’s response to the threats posed by climate change, such as rising sea levels and migration, had so far been “slow and inadequate,” because nations had failed to prepare for the worst-case scenario.
“We’re preparing for a car bomb, not for 9/11,” said Nick Mabey, author of the report, who said leading economies should be preparing for what would happen if climate change turned out to be running at the top of the temperature range scientists are predicting.
The report said: “If climate change is not slowed and critical environmental thresholds are exceeded, then it will become a primary driver of conflicts between and within states.”
You could argue that this is already happening, especially with increased food and water shortages..

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