Report predicts climate change apocalypse

A leading UK-based defence thinktank has warned that the consequences of climate change could lead to political conflicts on a similar scale to World Wars I and II.

The report from the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) warns that rising sea levels, lack of access to clean water, famines, floods and droughts are likely to become more commonplace as the effects of climate change get stronger.

Conflicts over natural resources are nothing new – they have occurred throughout history. The change will be in the level of conflict as natural resources become increasingly scarce.

The report lambasted the current worldwide response to climate change as ‘slow and inadequate’.

According to the report’s recommendations, ten times the amount that is currently being spent needs to be pumped into climate change research if its worst effects are to be held at bay. This would mean spending a similar amount to what went into the Apollo space programme – US$20 billion every year.

The report’s author, Nick Mabey, emphasised the point by saying that the current response to climate change is like the anti-terror police preparing for a car bomb. In reality, what is coming will be more like 9/11.

Further recommendations included building stronger alliances with the world’s most prolific energy consumers, such as China and India.