Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Petteri Taalas has warned that Global climate change will lead to local crises and a surge in the number of armed conflicts.
Taalas who made this known in an interview said that some countries in the world suffer from severe droughts, which lead to socio-economic crises and political crises.
“We have countries who already are suffering because of these extreme droughts, for example, at the moment, Ethiopia is having a severe drought, and so is Somalia,” he said. “And then there is the so-called “Arab Spring”.
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He explained that one of the components behind “the Arab Spring” was drought, adding that In Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, and Syria there were several years of drought which led to gaps in food production, unemployment of the rural population, and doubling of the food prices and that was the reason for the unrest.
“The unrest in Syria continues, and the situation in Libya is not very stable either,” he said. “Of course, there were other factors behind those crises, but the risk for such crises for sure will enhance”.
The WMO Secretary-General emphasized that climate change will deepen the challenges in many African countries where the living conditions are at the moment very challenging.
“And we may see more migration of the people, and also local crises and even military crises as a consequence,” he said.
He maintained that one of the biggest disasters of our time is floods, adding that there is also the melting of glaciers.
“Many of the world’s major rivers originate in mountain glaciers, and as those glaciers shrink, which is happening now, major rivers around the world will be fed less and less water,” he said.
Story was adapted from Tass.
