Climate Change (Essay Sample)

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Climate Change and Security in MENA
In the recent years, change in environment has been identified as serious inhibiting factor to the development and a threat to the international peace and security. It will alter the coastlines, alter arable land, change the water bodies, bring about severe droughts and as well storms. These changes have forced people to move from their ancestral lands in search of better and accommodating environment. These movements have caused disruptions in the people way of life and has led to the eruption of chaos. The problem is more prevalent in the developing countries including in Africa and Middle East regions. This is because these regions have a high dependency of natural resources that are more sensitive to the changes in the environment. However, the problem is not exclusively confined in those places. The developed nations, on the other hand, are affected by the global warming, the melting the ice in the arctic and thus altering the strategic positioning of some regions. These changes can stir the balance in the shared resources and affect the migration of fish and can, therefore, affect the economies of the developed nations as well.
This paper will discuss the contribution of the climate change to a rise in insecurity with a close reference to MENA region. This paper will answer the question as to how the changing climate in the MENA region is leading to an increase in the insecurity and human conflicts in MENA region. The paper will also tackle some measures that can be employed to reduce the impacts.
There have been studies that have been conducted about the relationship between the climate change and the conflicts. These researches that have been conducted and revealed that the climate change is having increased detrimental effects on the ecology and as well on the social systems (qtd. In Barnett 639). There have been speculations on the actual ways that the climate change might bring about the risk of violent conflicts. They include: due to a change in political economy owing to the measures that are taken to reduce the emission of fossil fuel. The second will be brought about by the changes in the social systems which is driven by the climate change impacts. The article focuses on the second aspect and discusses the social relationships between climate change, human security and conflicts. The paper integrates three components that include the vulnerability of the local people to the climatic conditions, livelihood and as well the role of the state in maintaining peace. These broad categories are discussed below.
Climate Change and Human Security
There is a consensus that the issue of climate change is real and is more intense than any other time in the past. The change in the climate is depicted in various regions by a change in the mean position and some instances and increase in the intensity. This includes things like heat waves, flood, and drought and so on. In the past, there have been intensive disasters that have been brought about by the changes in the climate. (qtl. Davis 2001) Documented details of death of millions in the tropics in the early 1900 century. Several other studies have been carried out to enforce on the possible catastrophic impacts of climate change to the social systems.
The vulnerability of the people is dependent on the extent of reliability to the natural resources and the social systems. Also, the vulnerability depends on the sensitivity of these resources to the changes in the climate. Thus, the vulnerability increases with the increase in the dependence of highly sensitive to climate change resources. It is important to note that this does not work in isolation; other factors come into play include poverty, the level of support from the government, cohesion amongst the vulnerable groups and the ability to make decisions.
An example is a contrast between the developed and a developing country. In a developed country, agriculture accounts for only a small portion of the GDP, whereas, in a developing nation, it accounts for the largest portion for the economy. Majority of farmers do it for subsistence, and they depend on direct rainfall for irrigation. In such countries, there is usually little to no support from the state. Thus, in the event that the rain fails, the impact to the society is detrimental. This forces the people to move in search of the natural resources, in the process the other communities are trying to conserve the little they have thus resulted to conflicts. This implies that the conflicts are more prevalent in the Middle East and Africa where the majority of countries are developing.
The impacts of the climate change are not only confined to the farmers alone. There is a large spree of individuals that are indirectly employed by the agricultural sector. This includes people like the suppliers of inputs, transporters, agricultural extension workers, processing industries and many others. In the event of such climatic related disasters, all the individuals' looks up to the government for assistance. The feelings of neglect and demand for the rights can adversely affect the security of the state. Therefore, the impact of climate change can be detrimental to the economy at large and affect the national cohesion and stability. The governments should, therefore, be on the forefront in implementing strategies and social welfare activities aimed at mitigating the impacts and making people climatic changes risks avert.
Human Insecurity and Violent Conflicts
Human insecurity and violent conflicts are conjoined in a way. Conflicts bring about insecurity and on the other hand insecurity instigates conflicts. The climate change is the cause of insecurity over resources and thus bringing about conflicts. There are several ways in which violent conflicts, human insecurity and climate change are related. Vulnerable livelihoods; high resource dependency and marginalized areas are likely to be worse affected. Poverty; climate change can increase the poverty levels especially amongst people who are politically and economically disadvantaged. Weak states; they are unable to handle the stress from the climate change and thus results to huge sufferings in case of a climate change environmental hazards. Migration; in the communities whose economic activities are the pastoralism, in the dry weather conditions they migrate to the neighbouring communities territories thus resulting to conflicts as they scramble for the resources available.
The State and Human Security
Human security cannot be discussed in isolation from the operations of the government. This is so since the government is tasked with the role of ensuring peace and stability to the citizens. As discussed earlier, decision making in times of strains is a key factor for the stability. Education and other empowerment programs are vital in ensuring that security is maintained. The government should work on contingent measures that will empower the citizens even in the time of disasters. This includes giving them a secure environment where they are confident to chase their dreams.
Article II
The impacts of the changing temperature are more of a reality now than the way it was before. Several studies have been conducted in order to gain a clear understanding of the nature of the relationship between the climate change and the rising tensions in the nations. (Brown Oli and Crawford Alec 2009) Carried out some extensive work on the relationship between the rising tension and the climate change in Middle East. The Levant, which constitutes the Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Syria and a part of Palestinian have been involved in constant conflicts for sometimes. Amidst those conflicts, the issue of climate change took a back seat, and the prevailing talks are on finding a permanent solution to conflicts in those nations. However, a clear analysis of the impacts of climate change in those regions reveals that there are more serious security concerns that might arise in future owing to the changing climate.
The climate in those regions is becoming hotter, drier and not accurately predictable. The region is naturally considered as a water scarce area. The increase in the temperatures will reduce the water flow and as well the precipitation. These could have detrimental impacts on the water management, including the agricultural activities. This article supports our thesis statement in the essence that it seeks to gain an understanding of the security threat of the region in the next forty year. The study made the following conclusions:
* The magnitude of the conflicts and the duration undermines the ability of the region to adjust to the changing climate; the sour relationships inhibits the ability for the regions to collaborate and come up with better strategies of managing the natural resources
* Climate change brings about a real security threat to the region; usually the security concerns are discussed in the confinement of politics and other immediate issues facing the Levant. There is however a shift in the discussion as experts reveals that the already strained resources and economy could go further down owing to the changes in the climate.
The report identified six threats that are related to climate change and has the potential to bring about the instability in the region. See below:
THREAT 1 – Climate change may aggravate the competition for scarce water resources, thus complicating peace talks: The impact of lack of sufficient water may complicate the negotiations plunging the countries back to the wrangles.
THREAT 2 – Climate change may lead to increase in food insecurity: This will affect the production of food supply. At the same time, the global cost of food may increase and when the demand for food sky rocked, pressure from the locals could force Syria...