S2 Ep9: Is climate conflict inevitable?

In 2010, Jeffrey Mazo outlined in his book ‘How global warming threatens security and what to do about it’ four ways in which climate and environmental change could produce security threats:

·     a general systemic weakening, 

·     boundary disputes,

·     resource wars,

·     and by multiplying instability in already fragile or weak states. 

Yet so far in our second series, with conversations around energy use, international treaties and individual choices, talk of conflict has received much less attention. 

Is this a fair reflection of the relative threat, or should people be paying far more attention to these potential future developments?

Is global conflict due to climate change inevitable?

With Peter to discuss this are; Kate Guy, from the Centre for Climate and Security in Washington DC, a doctoral researcher at the University of Oxford specialising in International Relations, who focusses on the intersection of climate change and national security; and Dr Troy Sternberg, from Oxford's School of Geography and the Environment, whose research has explored how environmental and climate changes in the Gobi region of northern China and Mongolia, have impacted on security in the Middle East.

Find out more about Oxford’s climate research at http://po.st/TruePlanet