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Climate Change and Oil Conflict

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Climate Change and Oil Conflict
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Climate
Policy
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Climate Change and Conflict (Oil)

Aleksandra Petkina
Master’s Development Economics and International Studies, Friedrich-Alexander-Universitat Erlangen Nurnberg

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Abstract

Lack of resources has become one of the key points causing conflicts in the Middle East, North Africa and other regions. Competition for natural resources has its roots throughout all the history of mankind: it has always been one of the reasons to break a status-quo. Twenty first century is characterized by increasing concerns about climate change and its impact on human life. The lexicon of a modern man was enriched by the expression “environmental conflict”. More questions about the links between environmental change and conflicts around this matter recently appeared. Growing scarcity of natural resources has already caused increasing actions among developing countries to ensure control over their key sources of profits. Interconnection between security and resources is clearly visible. This connection has a number of reasons: it is the lack of resources, strengthening of the developing countries’ economies and climate change. These points will be a subject of this paper. Paper contains a brief analysis of the situation with the natural resources and assumptions about the nearest future of the world.

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Content
Introduction 2
Scientific Proof of Climate Change 3
Climate change as a catalyst for threats 4
Indirect Impact of Oil Use on Climate and Human Security 7
Direct Impact of Oil Extraction on Climate and Human Security 10 Peak oil, climate change and pipeline geopolitics driving Syria conflict. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2013/may/13/1 10
Level of readiness 13
Possible solutions 14
Conclusion 15



Bibliography: 4. Stern Nicholas H. Stern Review: The Economics of Climate Change, London, HM Treasury, 2006. 7. Spillmann Kurt R., Bächler Günther. Environmental Crisis: Regional Conflicts and Ways of Cooperation, Swiss Peace Foundation, Bern, 1995; 8 9. Dabelko Geoffrey D., David D. Dabelko. Environmental Security: Issues of Conflict and Redefinition, Environmental Change and Security Project Report 1, Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington, 1995. P. 3–13; 10 13. Carius Alexander, Tänzler Dennis, Winterstein Judith. Weltkarte von Umweltkonflikten–Ansätze zur Typologisierung, Report, Adelphi Consult, Berlin, 2006, www.wbgu.de/wbgu_jg2007_ex02.pdf 14 15. Karas Thomas H. Global Climate Change and International Security, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, 2003, November, Report SAND2003–4114; 16 17. Scheffran Jürgen, Climate Change and Security, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 2008, May-June. P. 19–25. 18. Schwartz Peter, Randall Doug, An Abrupt Climate Change Scenario and Its Implications for United States National Security, Washington, 2003, October. P. 2, http://www.grist.org/pdf/ AbruptClimateChange2003.pdf 19 21. World in Transition – Climate Change as a Security Risk, German Advisory Council on Global Change, Berlin, 2007, http://www.wbgu.de/wbgu_jg2007_engl.html 22 23. Jon Barnett, Neil Adger. Security and Climate Change: Towards an Improved Understanding. Report for workshop «Human Security and Climate Change», Oslo, 2005, June 21–23. P. 4, http://www.gechs.org/2005/06/24/holmen_workshop 24 25. Nordas Ragnhild, Gleditsch Nils P. Climate Conflict: Common Sense or Nonsense? Report for workshop «Human Security and Climate Change», Oslo, 2005, June 21–23. P. 20, http://www.gechs.org/2005/06/24/holmen_workshop 26 27. Westing Arthur. Global Resources and International Conflict: Environmental Factors in Strategic Policy and Action, Oxford University Press, 1986 28

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