Climate change and national security

Abstract

Under the influence of various factors (variations in Earth’s orbit deviation, variations in solar radiation, volcanic eruptions, movements of tectonic plates, etc.), climate change on Earth has been occurring for millions of years. Over time, the impact of these factors was not large, and climate change proceeded very slowly, and could be easily adapted to. However, the rapid development of human civilization, especially in the XIX and XX century, resulted in the emergence of a new, anthropogenic, factor that brought about accelerated climate change. This change poses a serious threat to the national security of any country. Droughts, floods, storms, lack of drinking water resources, heat waves, and other, have a destabilizing effect on economic development and national interests of countries, affecting directly and indirectly the national security of not only the countries in many unstable regions in the world, but also of those highly developed ones whose national interests (as inseparable parts of national security) are threatened by this change. The aim of this paper is to show the negative effects of climate change in the world and its impact on national security of respective countries.

Keywords

• national security
• climate change
• resources
• extreme weather conditions