The Reporter: The British High Commission and the Ministry of National Security organized a public discussion on climate change and security on Wednesday October 29, in The speakers focused on the fact that climate change can place stress on human systems and act as a vehicle of insecurity and instability. They also discussed how other countries are adapting, preparing, defining needs and shaping appropriate responses to climate changes.
…Feakin stated that “climate change will act as an additional stress upon already fragile states or regions of the world, and if increasing temperatures continue in the way that they are, it will potentially dry out already fertile regions of land, which will lead to a decrease in food production and in turn lead to food scarcity. He went on to say that access to fresh water could also lead to stress on people living in rural areas.
Feakin noted that water scarcity has reached alarming dimensions in several arid and semi-arid regions. The projection is that by 2050, over a billion people in sixty countries will suffer from water scarcity in a worst case scenario.
…CEO in the Ministry of National Security Brig. Gen (Ret’d) Lloyd Gillett stated, “We’ve geared these presentations to policy makers, people in the N.G.O. community, people in the defence force and security forces and students of the University of Belize because they are the future leaders. This will affect their lives in the future.”
Climate change can also impact social and political issues, stated Shiloh Fetzek. Security too is a factor, because a lack of resources leads to slowed livelihood which helps create tension and political violence, explained Fetzek….
A U.S. soldier and a Somali child walking in opposite directions across a desert, shot by John Martinez Pavliga, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License
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