Climate Change, Migration, Power & Security Climate Migration Is Now a Major Geopolitical Risk

January 16, 2022
By Erin Sikorsky | Brink News

There are three primary ways in which climate migration can affect security and geopolitical interests. The first is an increasing risk of political instability within key countries and regions, as populations move from rural areas to more urban areas. Most climate migration is actually expected to initially take place within countries. This can strain governance, particularly in countries that are already stressed from other issues. 

A second way that climate migration can increase security concerns is through the potential to empower extremist or criminal groups, at the expense of legitimate state actors. When the government can’t step in, then others do so at times and try to take advantage of it.

The third way is by amplifying tensions between states, leading to reactionary responses from governments that are unprepared to manage larger numbers of migrants. For an example, you might look at what happened late last year in Belarus, when the government there tried to weaponize migration across the border into the EU and Poland.

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