Climate Change and Its Effects on Conflicts

Over the last 50 years, scientists studied the Earth’s warming temperatures and the resulting effects. Although climate change is not a new concept in current events, the consequences it has on exacerbating growing tensions and sustaining violent and nonviolent situations are less widely discussed. Of course, conflicts, internal or international, and their causes are multifaceted and cannot just be explained by one factor alone. However, climate change has a definite role in creating tensions that lead to violent or nonviolent conflict, including famine and displacement, as well as war. Although this rapid climate change is relatively recent in human history, climate trends and the environment have had an effect on conflicts throughout human history. Sustained trends caused by climate change can exacerbate tense situations leading up to the conditions for conflict, only needing a trigger for the spark of conflict. Currently, the world faces heightened tensions in many states, where climate change has only made these situations worse, and a greater focus on climate trends can give a better understanding of instability in states as they creep toward conflict