Search the SPREP Catalogue

This chapter outlines some of the links between human security and climate change in the Pacific Islands. It demonstrates that climate change poses significant risks to human security in the region. The links between climate change, human security, and instability and conflict are also explored. It seems unlikely that climate change will be the principal cause of violent conflict in the region in the future, but it may increase the risk of violent conflict in some places. The chapter argues that in order to increase human security in the region and avoid possible conflict and instability, climate-change adaptation strategies must be implemented.

Scientists state unequivocally that the earth is warming. Climate change is happening, it is caused in large part by human activity, and it will have many serious and potentially damaging effects in the decades ahead. Greenhouse gas emissions from cars, power plants, and other human activities—rather than natural variations in climate—are the primary cause of contemporary global warming. Due largely to the combustion of fossil fuels, atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2), the principal greenhouse gas, are at a level unequaled for at least 800,000 years. The greenhouse gases from human activities are trapping more of the sun’s heat in the earth’s atmosphere, resulting in warming. Over the last century, average global temperatures rose by more than 1°F and some regions warmed by as much as 4°F. The oceans have also warmed, especially in the upper layers.