Climate change seen as security issue for countries officials say | 08.24.2007 | 10:17:56 | Views: 5470 | ID: August 24 '07: Changes to the Earth's climate will also mean that countries will face greater and diverse security challenges, officials in Norway said recently. Reuters reported that John Ashton, British climate change ambassador told a conference of 13 nations that global warming "should be recast as a security issue, such as the war on terrorism, to help mobilize support for tougher global action to cut emissions of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels." The conference was held just 750 miles south of the North Pole in the town of Alesund. "Other experts at the talks, in the Arctic scientific research base, also said there was too much focus on costs of cutting emissions of greenhouse gases, rather than on risks of rising seas, droughts or floods projected by U.N. studies," Reuters reported. Those views are echoed in a report released by the CNA Corporation. In the report, the authors found that "Unlike most conventional security threats that involve a single entity acting in specific ways and points in time, climate change has the potential to result in multiple chronic conditions." "Projected climate change," the report read, "will seriously exacerbate already marginal living standards in many Asian, African and Middle Eastern nations, causing widespread political instability and the likelihood of failed states." Other reports have shown severe economic damage which could lead to security challenges if preparedness measures are not taken to mitigate the possible threats caused by global warming.
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