'It is imperative that we routinize and institutionalize the attention for climate change in our counter-terrorism efforts,’ write General (ret) Tom Middendorp, Chair of the IMCCS and former Chief of Defence of the Netherlands, and Reinier Bergema of the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism in a new article.
This paper is part of a series on climate, peace, and security in partnership with the Center on Climate and Security that is published just ahead of the UN Climate Action Summit. It investigates how climate change fuels violent extremism. The authors bring forward the links between climate change, water insecurity and violent extremism, explaining that climate change puts further pressures on already-struggling populations, especially in Africa and in the Middle East.
‘Poverty, (youth) unemployment, food insecurity, and, ultimately, the erosion of livelihoods will, if unaddressed, lead to population displacement, rural-urban migration, and increased local demand (and thus competition for land and water), fuelling social tensions and violent conflict.’
Climate change acts as a threat multiplier and hits vulnerable areas harder, areas that are usually not the largest consumers. Therefore, a global answer is urgently needed, in which all countries take their responsibility to tackle climate change.
Read the full article here.
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