Climate Change: Climate Change Intensifies the Future Risk of Armed Conflict

Jun 17, 2019 | Siobhán Dunphy, European Scientist
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Does climate change increase the risk of violent armed conflict? A new paper published last week on 12 June in Nature suggests intensified global warming could indeed increase the future risk of armed conflict. The risk will increase more than five times on the current warming trajectory, which is set to increase by 4 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, according to the study, and the future conflict risk could potentially increase by up to 26 per cent. Even 2 degrees Celsius of warming above preindustrial levels could more than double the impact of climate on conflict.