{"id":88,"date":"2006-03-09T01:19:29","date_gmt":"2006-03-09T01:19:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irdial.com\/blogdial\/?p=88"},"modified":"2006-03-09T01:19:29","modified_gmt":"2006-03-09T01:19:29","slug":"the-coming-resource-wars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irdial.com\/blogdial\/?p=88","title":{"rendered":"The coming resource wars"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Michael Klare<\/strong><\/div>\n

It’s official: the era of resource wars is upon us. In a major London address, British Defense Secretary John Reid warned that global climate change and dwindling natural resources are combining to increase the likelihood of violent conflict over land, water and energy. Climate change, he indicated, \u201cwill make scarce resources, clean water, viable agricultural land even scarcer\u201d\u2014and this will \u201cmake the emergence of violent conflict more rather than less likely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although not unprecedented, Reid\u2019s prediction of an upsurge in resource conflict is significant both because of his senior rank and the vehemence of his remarks. \u201cThe blunt truth is that the lack of water and agricultural land is a significant contributory factor to the tragic conflict we see unfolding in Darfur,\u201d he declared. \u201cWe should see this as a warning sign.\u201d<\/p>\n

Resource conflicts of this type are most likely to arise in the developing world, Reid indicated, but the more advanced and affluent countries are not likely to be spared the damaging and destabilizing effects of global climate change. With sea levels rising, water and energy becoming increasingly scarce and prime agricultural lands turning into deserts, internecine warfare over access to vital resources will become a global phenomenon.<\/p>\n

Reid\u2019s speech, delivered at the prestigious Chatham House in London (Britain\u2019s equivalent of the Council on Foreign Relations), is but the most recent expression of a growing trend in strategic circles to view environmental and resource effects\u2014rather than political orientation and ideology\u2014as the most potent source of armed conflict in the decades to come. With the world population rising, global consumption rates soaring, energy supplies rapidly disappearing and climate change eradicating valuable farmland, the stage is being set for persistent and worldwide struggles over vital resources. Religious and political strife will not disappear in this scenario, but rather will be channeled into contests over valuable sources of water, food and energy.<\/p>\n

Prior to Reid\u2019s address, the most significant expression of this outlook was a report prepared for the U.S. Department of Defense by a California-based consulting firm in October 2003. Entitled \u201cAn Abrupt Climate Change Scenario and Its Implications for United States National Security,\u201d the report warned that global climate change is more likely to result in sudden, cataclysmic environmental events than a gradual (and therefore manageable) rise in average temperatures. Such events could include a substantial increase in global sea levels, intense storms and hurricanes and continent-wide \u201cdust bowl\u201d effects. This would trigger pitched battles between the survivors of these effects for access to food, water, habitable land and energy supplies.<\/p>\n

\u201cViolence and disruption stemming from the stresses created by abrupt changes in the climate pose a different type of threat to national security than we are accustomed to today,\u201d the 2003 report noted. \u201cMilitary confrontation may be triggered by a desperate need for natural resources such as energy, food and water rather than by conflicts over ideology, religion or national honor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Until now, this mode of analysis has failed to command the attention of top American and British policymakers. For the most part, they insist that ideological and religious differences\u2014notably, the clash between values of tolerance and democracy on one hand and extremist forms of Islam on the other\u2014remain the main drivers of international conflict. But Reid\u2019s speech at Chatham House suggests that a major shift in strategic thinking may be under way. Environmental perils may soon dominate the world security agenda.<\/p>\n

This shift is due in part to the growing weight of evidence pointing to a significant human role in altering the planet\u2019s basic climate systems. Recent studies showing the rapid shrinkage of the polar ice caps, the accelerated melting of North American glaciers, the increased frequency of severe hurricanes and a number of other such effects all suggest that dramatic and potentially harmful changes to the global climate have begun to occur. More importantly, they conclude that human behavior\u2014most importantly, the burning of fossil fuels in factories, power plants, and motor vehicles\u2014is the most likely cause of these changes. This assessment may not have yet penetrated the White House and other bastions of head-in-the-sand thinking, but it is clearly gaining ground among scientists and thoughtful analysts around the world. […]<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.energybulletin.net\/13605.html\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Michael Klare It’s official: the era of resource wars is upon us. In a major London address, British Defense Secretary John Reid warned that global climate change and dwindling natural resources are combining to increase the likelihood of violent conflict over land, water and energy. Climate change, he indicated, \u201cwill make scarce resources, clean […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[25],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/irdial.com\/blogdial\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/irdial.com\/blogdial\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/irdial.com\/blogdial\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irdial.com\/blogdial\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irdial.com\/blogdial\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=88"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/irdial.com\/blogdial\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/irdial.com\/blogdial\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=88"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irdial.com\/blogdial\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=88"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irdial.com\/blogdial\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=88"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}