Global conflicts have noticeably increased recently, placing many communities under additional pressures and burdens from the impacts of climate change they are suffering from.

The policies of these communities are often preoccupied with other priorities rather than addressing the climate crisis.

This prompted a research group from the University of Sydney in Australia to investigate the extent of the impact of climate change on communities affected by conflicts. They discovered that climate change also impacts these communities. They published their results in the journal "WIREs Climate Change" on October 24, 2024. 

What is the connection?

The study concentrated on regions that have undergone civil wars, specifically South America, Southeast Asia, and Oceania, which includes Australia, Micronesia, Polynesia, and Melanesia. The lack of comprehensive research on conflicts and climate change in these regions caused this. Researchers have focused on studying climate change and conflict onset, rather than studying conflicts during their onset. Indeed, researchers have examined over 212 research papers on this topic over the past 15 years, specifically between 2007 and 2023.

What did they find?

Researchers have noted that environments more exposed to the impacts of climate change experience increased social disturbances, as well as escalating political and economic tensions. For example, Nepal in South Asia serves as a case study; it suffered from a civil war for 10 years, and when it began to focus its efforts on peace and state-building, it faced significant difficulties due to the effects of climate change it is experiencing, in addition to other issues related to its affairs.

Climate change-related crises also impact neighboring countries, leading to a noticeable surge in asylum requests and requests for humanitarian and security assistance. Typically, this falls on the stable neighboring countries.

The authors of the study see the necessity of deeply examining these crises and designing plans and projects that can effectively address them. This contributes to enhancing climate resilience. In numerous regions, the effects of climate change, like floods, droughts, and hurricanes, are already intensifying social and political tensions, escalating the situation, and sparking conflicts.