Climate Change as a Non-Kinetic Security Threat: A Global Analysis

Abstract

Climate change has created one of the most dangerous forms of non-kinetic security of the 21st century. Climate change has the potential to affect every aspect of global security and stability beyond state and conventional military concerns. Climate change doesn’t operate like most other security concerns. Climate change acting as a threat multiplier has the potential to aggravate existing security concerns and create new security problems. Climate change does all of this through indirect and far-reaching effects. These changes affect political stability, economic growth, and sustainable development while decreasing the well-being of individuals. Climate change creates a wide range of security issues, all of which can be intensified or extended by climate change. Climate change has the potential to alter the global security landscape beyond state and conventional military concerns. The results show that climate change acts as a single independent cause of insecurity quite rarely. It tends to connect with several pre-existing structural shortcomings, weak governance, social and economic inequalities, political turmoil, and the fragility of both governance and institutional systems in a potential cumulative way to increase the degree of risk of prospective conflict, humanitarian crises, and disruption of economics. The article suggests that climate security be framed within the context of the multidimensional and multisectoral policy challenges of a comprehensive nature, which require integrated responses at varying levels of governance (national, regional, and global). The article concludes that confrontation with climate change necessitates the integration of an environmental sustainability lens within the framework of conflict resolution.