Washington: A recent assessment by the US State Department on emerging security concerns highlights how the changing global climate might destabilize a strategically significant region, as evidenced by the floods in Pakistan in 2022.
The March 2024 study on “New Security Challenges,” which was unveiled this week in Washington, goes into detail on the current Gaza crisis and issues a warning that peace in a region does not automatically imply the absence of warfare.
The International Security Advisory Board of the State Department prepared the study, which names resource scarcity and climate change as the two most urgent issues facing the world community.
The genesis and spread of diseases affecting humans, animals, and plants as well as the state and non-state actors’ exploitation of identity-based prejudice, discrimination, and violence are the other major issues mentioned in this report.
As evidenced by the devastating floods that struck Pakistan in 2022 and the protracted drought that affected areas of Africa and Latin America, the research warns that compound climatic effects are rapidly destabilizing crucial regions.
The paper goes on to say that further concerning elements include “state fragility, weak governance, conflict over identity and inequality, and poor infrastructure and social resilience.”
Nuclear Issues
The paper also notes that China and Pakistan are cooperating on nuclear projects, with China announcing plans to construct a new nuclear station in Pakistan in 2023. The report continues, “Pakistan has nuclear weapons and is not a party to the NPT, raising continuing concerns, even though China and Pakistan have had a long-term strategic relationship.”
The event “led to a new war in the Middle East and provides a stark example of how previous assessments of the absence of active conflict did not mean the presence of peace and human security,” the report states, referring to the Gaza scenario.
The research additionally highlights that a range of dynamic security issues coexist with these conventional military threats. The paper states that while there are other challenges, “climate change is the most significant and existential threat that has emerged.”
According to the article, despite investigating nuclear cooperation with Saudi Arabia, the United States and its European allies are still working to “prevent Iran from nuclear weapons development” in the Middle East.
The research highlights the threat that climate change poses once again and cautions that attempts to reduce carbon emissions and decarbonize energy production will not stop global temperatures from rising.
