Climate Security: A New Kind of Enemy

Jul 28, 2022 | Wes Martin
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Climate change poses a drastic rebalancing of geopolitics, ushering in an era of “climate security”. The world’s militaries will face new challenges as these conditions precipitate. The International Military and Climate Security Council expect soldiers to fill the de-facto role of first responders as catastrophes and mass migrations occur across the globe, brought on by climate change. (source) Their annual report also forecasted that military infrastructure like bases, vehicles, and supply chains will be negatively affected in the coming years.

Rising temperatures have been threatening harvests worldwide. Combined with factors like ethnic tensions, and existing economic and social disparity, climate change-driven crop losses could be a large dynamic in future geopolitical scenarios. 

Rising temperatures have caused droughts throughout the entirety of the world. (Source) 2.2 billion people on earth still require access to clean drinking water. (Source) As scarcity grows, so does tension.  Central Asian nations face rising forecasted temperatures. (source) Ferghana Valley, stretching through Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, has seen fighting over water resources now that it is drying up. (Source) The valley is subsequently fed by the Tian Shen glacial ice melts. Research has concluded that Tian Shen lost over 20% of its mass in the last 20 years to rising temperatures. (Source) Tian Shen also feeds water into the Xinjiang region of China, a region with major ethnic tensions.