Natural disasters: Global warming helping heat up geo-political climate

Resource-exploitative activities may cause skirmishes or even all-out war.

KARACHI: There must be something terribly wrong up in the air. First, it was the Airblue crash in Margalla Hills on July 28, 2010 which, to date, remains a mystery and then the Bhoja Air crash. The other day, one of my friends told me that the recent Siachen incident occurred not because of some avalanche or snowstorm, as is common knowledge, but it was due to a laser beam that was shot from a satellite by Nasa. The first phrase that came to my mind was “conspiracy theory”…!!!

In 1993, work on an ionospheric research programme titled “HAARP (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Programme) began in Alaska. A global geo-engineering project of this magnitude is the largest and most-expensive endeavour ever undertaken in the history of mankind.

One of the reasons which they give as to why this is being done is to facilitate global population reduction to sustainable levels in accordance with the New World Order. As far as ‘who is doing it’ is concerned, they believe this HAARP is being played by the same individuals and institutions that pioneered atmospheric geo-engineering.

While it’s true that nations are vying for the Arctic treasures and colonisation is creeping on the ocean floors, not every incident could be blamed on HAARP or laser beams.

Imagining the unimaginable

When most people think about climate change, they imagine gradual increases in temperature and only marginal changes in other climatic conditions, continuing indefinitely or even leveling off at some time in the future. The conventional wisdom is that modern civilisation will either adapt to whatever weather conditions they face and that the pace of climate change will not overwhelm the adaptive capacity of society.

Recent research suggests that once temperature rises above some threshold, adverse weather conditions could develop relatively abruptly. Since weather-related events have an enormous impact on society, as they influence food supply, conditions in cities and communities, as well as access to clean water and energy, such an abrupt climate change scenario could potentially destabilise the geo-political environment, leading to skirmishes, battles and even wars due to resource constraints.

As global and local carrying capacities are reduced, tensions could mount around the world, leading to two fundamental strategies – defensive and offensive. Nations with the resources to do so may build virtual fortresses around their countries, preserving resources for themselves.

Less fortunate nations, especially those with ancient enmities with their neighbours, may initiate struggles for access to food, clean water or energy. Unlikely alliances could be formed as defence priorities shift and the goal is resources for survival rather than religion, ideology or national honour.

One thing that I can be sure of is this – nature is giving us back what we’ve already sown, as we have misused natural resources to the limits.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 14^th, 2012.