Global Famine Predicted in Even a Limited India-Pakistan Nuclear War Due to Soot and Firestorms

Mar 22, 2020 | Earth Institute
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The concept of nuclear winter — a years-long planetary freeze brought on by airborne soot generated by nuclear bombs — has been around for decades. But such speculations have been based largely on back-of-the-envelope calculations involving a total war between Russia and the United States. Now, a new multinational study incorporating the latest models of global climate, crop production and trade examines the possible effects of a less gargantuan but perhaps more likely exchange between two longtime nuclear-armed enemies: India and Pakistan. It suggests that even a limited war between the two would cause unprecedented planet-wide food shortages and probable starvation lasting more than a decade. The study appears this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.