A vicious circle linking depletion of natural resources with violent conflict may have crossed into a point of no go back in parts of the world and probably will be exacerbated by climate change, a report warned earlier on Thursday.
Food insecurity and water shortages in the region, combined with the impact of natural disasters and high population increases, have fueled conflicts and driven people home in sensitive areas, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) think tank.
The IEP uses data provided by the United Nations and other sources to predict the countries and regions at risk, in the register of the environmental threat.
Serge Stroobants, IEP Director, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, said the report ranks 30 ‘hotspot’ countries – which have 1.26 billion people – as at risk.
This was based on three criteria concerning resource shortages and five referring to disasters such as floods, droughts and rising temperatures.
Afghanistan receives the worst rating in the report, which states that its sustained conflict has damaged its chance to handle the risks from water and food supplies, climate change and changing floods and droughts.
Conflict is leading to further deterioration in the situation on resources, say the results.
Six seminars last year took place at the level of governments, military institutions and development groups, delivering a message that “it is unlikely that the international community will reverse the vicious cycles in some parts of the world” according to the IEP.
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EU launch: https://t.co/9C1YXbeycA pic.twitter.com/YnqFWoRSOC— IEP Global Peace Index (@GlobPeaceIndex) October 5, 2021
