Climate change “poses an immediate threat to national security, with increased risks from terrorism, infectious disease, global poverty and food shortages,” the New York Times reported Monday, in an article on a new Pentagon roadmap for adapting the military to rising sea levels, severe storms, and widespread drought.
“The loss of glaciers will strain water supplies in several areas of our hemisphere,” said U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. “Destruction and devastation from hurricanes can sow the seeds for instability. Droughts and crop failures can leave millions of people without any lifeline, and trigger waves of mass migration.”
- Be among the first to read The Energy Mix Weekender
- A brand new weekly digest containing exclusive and essential climate stories from around the world.
- The Weekender:The climate news you need.
The Pentagon’s focus on security threats resulting from climate change is part of an effort to build support for a comprehensive climate agreement at the UN climate summit in Paris next year, Davenport writes.
