April 25, 2013
According to Dasuki, worsening desertification, rising sea levels in the Niger Delta, and the shrinking of Lake Chad have pushed young men out of traditional occupations and into lawlessness. For example, traditional fishermen on Lake Chad have had to leave their occupations as the lake has dried up, a phenomenon experts have linked to a combination of climate change and poor management.
"In the state of joblessness the youth can easily be forced into crime," A. Nyam, the Director of Internal Security, told the meeting.
The Boko Haram formed in 2001 and since then has been responsible for thousands of deaths; the Islamic group wants to establish sharia law in Nigeria.
Nigeria has also been plagued by conflicts erupting between herders and farmers for access to shrinking water resources and pasture lands eaten away by desertification.
The most populous nation on the continent, Nigeria is divided between Muslims in the north and Christian in the south. Despite instability, the country has the largest economy on the continent after South Africa largely due to oil reserves which account for nearly half of its GDP. Still despite a large GDP and rapid economic growth, the majority of Nigerians (63 percent) live on less than $1 a day. Oil production in the country has also left large-scale environmental scars and local conflict.
Scientists and policy experts have long warned that climate change could increase conflict, and even wars, worldwide. Some experts have pointed to climate change as playing a role in the revolutions across the Middle East (which were partly linked to rising food prices) as well as the ongoing conflict in Darfur. In fact, a study in 2011 found that civil conflicts in tropical countries were twice as likely to occur in hot and dry years, conditions that are likely to increase as the climate continues to warm.
Sambo Dasuki took over as Nigeria National Security Advisor last July.
From 1963 to 1998 Lake Chad shrunk by an astounding 95 percent. It has since recovered slightly, but is no-where near its historical size. Photo by: NASA.
China to phase out super greenhouse gas
(04/24/2013) Some eight billion tonnes of greenhouse gases could be kept out of the atmosphere if China sticks to a deal with the United Nation's Montreal Protocol to eliminate the production of hydro-fluorocarbons (HCFCs). In return for phasing out HCFC production by 2030, the Multilateral Fund of the Montreal Protocol on Substances has promised China of funding up to $385 million.
'Carbon bubble' could cause next global financial crisis
(04/22/2013) The world could be heading for a major economic crisis as stock markets inflate an investment bubble in fossil fuels to the tune of trillions of dollars, according to leading economists. "The financial crisis has shown what happens when risks accumulate unnoticed," said Lord (Nicholas) Stern, a professor at the London School of Economics. He said the risk was "very big indeed" and that almost all investors and regulators were failing to address it.
Despite unseasonable cold in EU and U.S., March was tenth warmest on record
(04/22/2013) While the month of March saw colder-than-average temperatures across a wide-swath of the northern hemisphere—including the U.S., southern Canada, Europe, and northern Asia—globally, it was the tenth warmest March on record in the last 134 years, putting it in the top 7 percent.
Last 30 years were the warmest in the last 1,400 years
(04/21/2013) From 1971 to 2000, the world's land areas were the warmest they have been in at least 1,400 years, according to a new study in Nature Geoscience. The massive new study, involving 80 researchers from around the world with the Past Global Changes (PAGES) group, is the first to look at continental temperature changes over two thousand years, providing insights into regional climatic changes from the Roman Empire to the modern day. According to the data, Earth's land masses were generally cooling until anthropogenic climate change reversed the long-term pattern in the late-19th Century.
Hate flying? climate change will make it even rougher
(04/10/2013) Climate change will lead to bumpier flights caused by increased mid-air turbulence, according to an analysis by scientists of the impact of global warming on weather systems over the next four decades. The increasing air turbulence results from the impact of climate change on the jet streams, the fast, mile-wide winds that whistle round the planet at the same altitude as airliners. The shifting of the jet stream over Europe has also been blamed for the UK's wash-out summer in 2012 and frozen spring this year.
Norwegian Pinot Noir?: global warming to drastically shift wine regions
(04/08/2013) In less than 40 years, drinking wine could have a major toll on the environment and wildlife, according to a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The study finds that climate change will likely force many vineyards to move either north or to higher altitudes, leading to habitat loss, biodiversity declines, and increased pressure for freshwater. Some famous wine-growing areas could be lost, including in the Mediterranean, while development of new wine areas—such as those in the Rocky Mountains and northern Europe—could lead to what the the scientists describe as "conservation conflicts."
U.S. Republican voters want action on climate change
(04/03/2013) A new poll by the Center for Climate Change Communication (4C) at George Mason University finds that a majority of U.S. citizens who identify as Republicans or Republican-leaning independents want the government to do more to tackles climate change. Sixty-two percent of those polled said that the U.S. government "absolutely should" or "probably should" takes steps to address climate change. This goes against the views of many Republican congressmen—as well as the party platform—who largely oppose action on climate change.