Climate change could be at the root of armed conflicts: Study (Re-issue)

Climate change, and the resulting shortage of ecological resources, could be blamed for armed conflicts in the future, a new study claims.

Hong Kong, July 11 : Climate change, and the resulting shortage of ecological resources, could be blamed for armed conflicts in the future, a new study claims.

David Zhang from the University of Hong Kong and his colleagues looked at the impact of climate change on warfare frequency over the last millennium in eastern China.They found that warfare frequency in eastern China, and the southern part in particular, significantly correlated with temperature oscillations. lmost all peaks of warfare and dynastic changes coincided with cold phases.

According to the study, temperature fluctuations directly impact agriculture and horticulture and, in societies with limited technology such as pre-industrial China, cooling temperatures hugely impact the availability of crops and herds.

In times of such ecological stress, warfare could be the ultimate means of redistributing resources, said Zhang and his team.

The authors conclude that "it was the oscillations of agricultural production brought by long-term climate change that drove China's historical war-peace cycles."

They recommend that researchers consider climate change part of the equation when they consider the reasons behind wars in our history.

ANI