IPPC warns of global warming wars
April 1st, 2007 by Jim JustThe second report this year by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concludes that scores of countries face war for scarce land, food and water as global warming increases. More than 60 nations, mainly in the Third World, will have existing tensions hugely exacerbated by the struggle for ever-scarcer resources. Others now at peace—including China, the United States and even parts of Europe—are expected to be plunged into conflict. Even those not directly affected will be threatened by a flood of hundreds of millions of “environmental refugees.” The consequences of global warming are appearing far sooner and faster than expected. “Changes in climate are now affecting biological and physical systems on every continent,” it says. In coming decades, changes in the environment—and the resulting upheavals, from droughts to inundated coastal areas—are likely to become a major driver of war and conflict. The report will be published on April 6.