We must have a habitable climate in order to have peace

195 countries are participating in the COP21 UN Climate Change meeting in Paris. We hope the representatives of the countries attending the meetings recognize how important a safe and habitable climate is for international peace: we know drought played a big part in the current Syrian crisis and certainly, people without access to resources and a safe environment are more likely to be stressed. Climate change has the potential to create unrest and conflict around the world, as the US military already knows: a 2014 Pentagon report outlines how the Department of Defense has already begun to treat climate change as a significant threat to national security.

A recent World Bank report shows that climate change may push 100 million people back into poverty, erasing years of hard work to reduce poverty around the world.

It is clear that climate change and conflict go hand in hand. Nothing divides people more than poverty and lack of access to resources. We must address climate change in order to have peace. Artist Fred George highlighted this fact with his Solar Peace Sculpture for the 2009 Copenhagen climate talks, stating “We want people left with the vision of peace: peace with nature, peace within, peace worldwide.”

As the recent attacks in Paris, Beirut, and Baghdad (all within the last week), and the ongoing conflict in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East and Africa illustrate, peace is hard to come by. But it will be all the more difficult if we do not address climate change and take our responsibility to the environment seriously.

“A failure to cap carbon emissions guarantees another result as well, though one far less discussed. It will, in the long run, bring on not just climate shocks, but also worldwide instability, insurrection, and warfare. In this sense, COP-21 should be considered not just a climate summit but a peace conference – perhaps the most significant peace convocation in history.” — Michael T. Klare, Why Paris will be a Peace Conference – before the wars begin, EnergyPost EU

“Peace for Paris” by Jean Jullien