Pentagon report evaluates threat of climate change

Rising global temperatures present significant challenges for the Defense Department, necessitating a new climate planning cell to better monitor climate threats, according to a major study by the Pentagon’s Defense Science Board, News.Az reports citing The Washington Times.

“Climate change acts as a ‘threat multiplier,’ amplifying existing vulnerabilities, enhancing regional instability, and generally fostering conditions conducive to conflict,” the report states.

Such international stresses could affect how the Pentagon maintains deterrence and prepares for potential future conflict, the report states.

The 132-page report, “Climate Change and Global Security,” includes a warning that its scientific findings must be tempered by “specific critical gaps” in data and understanding of climate change. The report is also devoid of the alarmist assertion of President Biden and other senior administration officials that climate change poses an “existential” threat to life on Earth.

Global average temperatures increased since the 1860s by 1.9 degrees Fahrenheit, and world average sea levels have risen by eight to nine inches since 1880, the report said.

Impacts of climate change are expected to include mass migrations and the “weaponization” of critical resources by adversaries such as China over water supplies and critical minerals.

For example, the report singles out Beijing for curbing the flow of water south from Tibet through the Mekong River, threatening water supplies and fishing for 300 million people in Vietnam.

News.Az