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By Laurel Hopwood, NEO Environmental Justice Co-Chair
 Climate change is now being considered a threat to human security.
Recent projections of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) estimate that by 2080, billions of people will face water
scarcity and hunger and millions of homes will be hit hard by coastal
flooding. People will be at risk of displacement, causing an environmental
crisis of global proportions.
These risks threaten not just unstable regions, but also countries
that are likely to experience the spillover of large-scale migration
from areas directly impacted by a changing climate. Massive migrations
could increase border tensions and conflicts over essential resources,
such as food and water.
In the Middle East, where water resources are a critical issue,
competition for increasingly scarce resources may exacerbate the
level of conflict. In Latin America, rising sea levels and increased
hurricane activity could result in migration into neighboring areas.
In some South American countries, loss of glaciers could strain
the water and food supply. In Asia, potential sea level rise would
have a severe impact with billions living close to coastlines.
Increased spread of infectious disease could further destabilize
the region.
It's not just happening in some distant country. Along the U.S.-Mexico
border, political tensions over water and agricultural resources
are bound to escalate as temperatures rise. The IPCC projects that
the southwestern U.S. and parts of Mexico will become more arid
and could experience a significant decline in water availability
by the end of the century. By the 2050s, half of agricultural lands
in Latin America are very likely to undergo desertification. Some
believe that tensions could become high between the U.S. and Canada
due to clashes over fishing rights and waterway navigation.
 Senator Joseph Biden raised this issue during recent U.S. Senate
Committee on Foreign Relations hearings. Referring to the report
on National Security and the Threat of Climate Change, Biden stated, "I
was struck by the clarity of the connections between the predictable
effects of global warming and the human actions that we know will
follow. Climate change will reduce access to fresh water, impair
food production, spread diseases, erode coasts and increase flooding,
displacing millions. Throughout human history, disruption on this
scale almost always meant war. In those nations already on the
brink, governments will lack the capacity to cope. This report
shows how global warming will become a threat multiplier for instability
and push failing states over the edge. Climate, energy, national
security - these are all facets of the same single challenge: A
strong domestic and international response that that slows, stops
and reverses the buildup of greenhouse gases. Denial, delay, and
half measures are not going to be the order of the day anymore,
I hope. This report takes all excuses off the table."
For more information, visit Climate Change 2007: Climate Change
Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability at http://www.ipcc.ch/SPM13apr07.pdf
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