Our Contribution to Genocide

Africa is dry, and climate change is going to make it even more so. It has been suggested that the current conflict in Sudan, is not just a manifestation of religious and ethnic animosities -- it's also a conflict of too few resources to meet the demand of the existing population. If the world is serious about ending the genocide in Sudan, it will also have to address the problem of dwindling resources, exasperated by the Sahara pushing further south, down the continent. It is another perspective on climate change. Our consumption habits in the developed world is being paid for, in part, by the lives of Africans -- by the genocide happening in Sudan.

This perspective begs for urgency in addressing climate change. The conflict and resulting genocide in Sudan may be an early warning sign of the coming consequences of climate change. It won't happen fast, but ancient hatreds around the world, currently held at bay by economic and social prosperity, will certainly ignite when there's nothing left to lose. The world has had little success in brokering peace in Sudan, or implementing sustainable measures to provide the basics of life. What will we do when the strife in Sudan crops up elsewhere in the world -- as climate change alters more than just the African continent?

They say that every society is only three meals away from revolution. Deprive a culture of food for three meals, and you'll have an anarchy.

Related reading:

• National Security and the Threat of Climate Change [PDF]
• Climate Change and International Security
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
• Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis [PDF]