4 Widespread Threats by Climate Change in Maintaining Global Security. Will the nations be able to counterbalance it -Written by Ishita Pal (Managing News Partner) Bisjhintus News ?

On 9th July, NATO released an assessment about the impact of Annual Climate Change on Global Security. Climate Change of which we know as a hazardous event solely for the nature and biodiversity but in reality, it ranges way beyond our known boundaries. It has the potential to indirectly impact world peace and security by contributing to more conflicts, violence and instability across nations. The breakdown of vast agricultural dynamics due to the abrupt changes in the oceanic currents is another key stress factor in geopolitics. These are bound to impact the strategic decisions of all the nations and the trade treaties too. Let’s highlight on how the nations are facing a bumper in delivering essential services to the populations and their respective military forces -

 

CIVIL TRANSPORT SYSTEM:

We have already come across how indispensable air, water and land transportation is during both Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Mossad conflict. But the extreme hot and cold temperatures, sudden windstorms, heavy snow and freezing rain has assumed the role of being a potential disruption in delivering essential services such as energy, medical supplies and daily bread. For example, the European heatwave in the summer of 2022 heavy snow that struck northern and central Europe in December 2023 caused major blockages and severe delays, thus widespread disruption.

 

CIVIL COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES:

Communication services are one of the most delicate elements determining a nation’s safety. The extreme heat weather conditions pose a severe threat to the telecommunications infrastructures leaving businesses and individuals unable to connect with each other. Along with this, decline in the fossil fuel resources is likely to impact the electrical power supply leading to local outages on a vast scale. Additionally, due to the heavy rain and abrupt currents, the GEO satellites are also bound to experience blockage which will most surely pose a great risk to the security of the nations.

 

IMPACT ON FOOD RESOURCES:

The loss of biodiversity due to climate change is interrelated with the impact on global agricultural output. The increased shifting in the wind currents coupled with extreme weather conditions have already been proven fatal to the annual harvest thus leading to failure in food productions across nations. As NATO’s report stated “In the summer of 2022, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Romania and Hungary struggled with prolonged droughts and intense heat waves. As a result, European cereal production plummeted by 9% compared to 2021 levels.”

UNCONTROLLED MOVEMENT OF PEOPLE:

Extreme weather conditions across nooks and corners of the world has resulted in mass movement of people within and outside the boundaries of a nation. The constant search for stability in life and also the essential needs to be met such as health care, food and water resources, energy, communications and transport. The increased demand of the essential services has put a huge stress on the national authorities to focus on the root causes of the issue. 

 

To conclude, this clearly shows how much the requirement to manage increasingly frequent environmental hazards are utmost needed at this point. Otherwise these vulnerable moments can prove to be a lucrative opportunity for the competitors to take benefit from for each nation. Along with the drastic changes it is necessary for the national military forces to adapt rapidly to the different circumstances to avoid any long term challenges posed by climate change.