Climate change poses a great threat to US' national security interests and may lead to a spike in poverty and terrorist activities besides political instability growing out of conflict over basic resources, the White House said in a report released today.
"Climate change poses immediate risks to our national security, contributing to increased natural disasters and resulting in humanitarian crises, and potentially increasing refugee flows and exacerbating conflicts over basic resources like food and water," the White House said.
It also aggravates issues at home and abroad, including poverty, political instability and social tensions - conditions that can fuel instability and enable terrorist activity and other forms of violence, the White House said ahead of US President Barack Obama's major speech on climate change.
Climate change is an urgent and growing threat to the US national security, contributing to increased weather extremes which worsen refugee flows and conflicts over basic resources like food and water, it said.
The national security implications of climate change reach far beyond US coastlines, further threatening already fragile regions of the world, it noted, adding that increased sea levels and storm surges threaten coastal regions, infrastructure and property.
A changing climate will act as an accelerant of instability around the world, exacerbating tensions related to water scarcity and food shortages, natural resource competition, underdevelopment, and overpopulation, it said.
"Thus, climate change impacts, coupled with other global dynamics, including growing and urbanising populations, could devastate homes, land and infrastructure. Climate change will exacerbate water scarcity and may lead to increases in food costs," the report said.
The pressures caused by climate change will influence resource competition, while placing additional burdens on economies, societies and governance institutions around the world.
Many governments will face challenges to meet even the basic needs of their people as they confront demographic change, resource constraints, effects of climate change and risks of global infectious disease outbreaks, it said.
