7381. New challenges to Human Security: Environmental Change and Human Mobility
- Author:
- Georgetown University nstitute for the Study of Diplomacy
- Publication Date:
- 04-2017
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
- Abstract:
- Climate change and shifting weather patterns are not the Tinker Bells of science or of policy. Disbelief, or denial, or a suspension of research will not make melting icecaps, rising sea levels, desertification, and floods go away. There may be legitimate debate on the pace of these changes, or whether there is a meaningful difference between the degrees of global warming that will result in inconvenient, catastrophic, or apocalyptic scenarios. But the empirical data is there. There is change and it affects human security—whether food can be grown, if water is available, and which lands are likely to become uninhabitable. And these needs, along with other drivers, will influence where humans live—and whether they must abandon their homes. As people are forced to migrate simply to survive, we face the possibility of major shifts in human settlement patterns, along with increased competition for resources.
- Topic:
- Environment and Human Rights
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus