According to a 2007 report entitle “Climate Change, The Environment, Resources And Conflict”, the severe climate changes we are seeing globally are not only threatening our way of life, fauna and animals, but will most likely also be the catalyst for global conflict.

A summary of the report, a confidential security document written by the Australia Defense Force, was obtained by the Sydney Morning Herald.  The paper was able to get a hold of the summary in accordance to the Freedom of Information Law. A full report was refused by the military, which stated that Australia’s military defense and international relations could be jeopardized by releasing it.

The summary of the report claims that an increase in the risk of conflict taking place in the Pacific over food and resources can be directly linked to global environmental stress. According to the summary, “environmental stress, caused by both climate change and a range of other factors, will act as a threat multiplier in fragile states around the world, increasing the chances of state failure.”

Not surprisingly, the summary claims that the greatest risk of global conflict is in the Arctic.  With the melting of the arctic shelf we are already seeing conflict between several countries as they fight for the rights to harvest the oil and gas deposits that lay undersea.  With pipelines and offshore drilling interests increasing as other sources of oil and gas dry up, it is quite easy to imagine a worldwide fight for the Arctic resources.

“The Arctic is melting, potentially making the extraction of undersea energy deposits commercially viable. Conflict is a remote possibility if these disputes are not resolved peacefully,” the summary states.

With the melting of the Arctic ice, there is the accompanying rise in sea levels, with the potential of flooding low lying areas. The report also anticipates global conflict and stress as those who have been flooded out of these low lying areas seek refuge.