Explore Our Planet

In 2004 the US Department of Defense commissioned a report prepared by GBN titled: An Abrupt Climate Change Scenario and Its Implications for United States National Security

Violence 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.

Military 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.

The shifting motivation for confrontation would alter which countries are most vulnerable and the existing warning signs for security threats.

Last december and this January appears unusually mild to many people of the northern hemisphere. There are not only reports of higher temperatures, trees and flowers started to bloom in winter, ice bears dropped hibernation and migratory birds decided to stay home in their summer habitat.

NASA’s Earth Observatory used data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite and compared December surface temperature with average December temperatures from 2000-2005. Picture above shows hotter regions in red, some places have been up to 10 degrees Celsius warmer than in the recent past.

Nature prepares for Global Warming, when do mankind adapt?

Picture credit: Jesse Allen, based on data from Zhengming Wan, MODIS Land Surface Temperature Group, Institute for Computational Earth System Science, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Climate change is a process which impacts species, eco-systems and biodiversity. Many species already adapted to higher temperatures and changed the length, timing and location of their migration routes.

Some species, like green turtles, are suffering higher levels of tumours with the rise linked to warmer waters and more infections.

Around a fifth of the bird species listed under the Convention could be affected by rising sea levels, erosion and greater wave action linked with climate change. (more…)

Press Release, Pacific Islands Forum, 23rd October, 2006

Global warming and the effects of sea level rise is concern for the Small Island States (SIS).

And incoming chairman of the SIS and the Republic of Kiribati, Anote Tong is urging Australia and all other interested party to participate in active dialogue foreseeing a prospective future for the small island states.

“As you all know that Small Island States are low lying islands and vulnerable to global warming and sea level rise.”

According to Mr.Tong, even though Australia is already experiencing the impact of global warming through bush fires, it has other pressing prioritizes.

“If is going to be true that in the next 50years, Small Island States will diminish than that should be a concern.”

Currently member of the SIS are in dialogue with Australia and other International bodies in the hope of having their concerns addressed.

Both the 15th Small Island States and the Leaders and Participants of African, Caribbean Pacific (ACP) met differentlly at Westin Resort & Spa on Denerau.

earth-policy.org: Rising Sea Level Forcing Evacuation of Island Country
SUN Weekend: Global warming: litigation to soon heat up

Demographic data collected by Claritas states that about 250,000 people from New Orleans and the Gulf Coast still have not come back to their domicile. Lester R. Brown from Earth Policy Institute concludes:

The first massive movement of climate refugees has been that of people away from the Gulf Coast of the United States. …

New Orleans’ population before Katrina struck was 463,000. Claritas, a private demographic data-gathering and analysis firm, reported that after the hurricane New Orleans’ population shrank to 93,000. By January 2006, it had recovered to 174,000. By July 2006, the city still had only 214,000 residents, less than half of its pre-Katrina population. …

In some Mississippi Gulf Coast towns, Katrina’s powerful 28-foot-high storm surge (8.5 meters) did not leave a single structure standing. There was nothing for evacuees to return to. …

Some evacuees are still returning, but the flow has slowed to a near trickle. We estimate that at least 250,000 of them have established homes elsewhere and will not return. They no longer want to face the personal trauma and financial risks associated with rising seas and more destructive storms. These evacuees are now climate refugees. …

Interestingly, the country to suffer the most damage from a hurricane is also primarily responsible for global warming. …

More destructive storms are an early manifestation of global warming. The longer term risk is that rising temperatures will melt glaciers and polar ice caps, raising sea level and displacing coastal residents worldwide. The flow of climate refugees to date numbers in the thousands, but if we do not quickly reduce CO2 emissions, it could one day number in the millions.

[ Lester R. Brown, Earth Policy Institute, 2006-08-16 ]