II. Weather-related disasters and violent conflict

Chapter:

8. Exploring the links between climate change and violent conflict

Source:

SIPRI Yearbook 2017

Author(s):

Malin Mobjörk

One of the consequences of climate change is an increase in extreme weather events such as droughts, floods, heatwaves and storms.¹ Many of these events lead to destruction and death. The study of weather-related disasters has recently become more prominent as a way to analyse potential links between climate change and violent conflict. The study of the social consequences of disasters seems particularly promising as a means to increase knowledge about structural conditions, conflict dynamics and specific mechanisms linking weather-related disasters and violent conflict.² The environmental consequences of extreme weather-related disasters (i.e. floods and droughts) do not differ in principle, and the stresses placed on the social and political fabric of affected societies by weather-related disasters are more immediate than the slow-onset consequences of climate change.