Too much and never enough climate change and water insecurity
National and international security, stability, and prosperity will face novel challenges in the coming decades. Rivalry between the “great powers” (U.S., China, and Russia), as well as between regional states, will remain a feature of 21st Century international relations. But novel transnational issues, such as climate change, cyberspace, and pandemic diseases, will establish the context in which rivalries between states play out; at the same time, these transnational challenges will require global cooperation to prevent them from becoming potentially existential threats to human well being.
Climate change is the most all-encompassing of transnational threats. The natural world, which is the basis for all human societies, had adapted to one set of climatic conditions but is now adapting to new and still changing climatic conditions. That adaptation, the historical data show, will change the nature and location of the global water supply, whether frozen or liquid, as well as sea levels. This will lead to various kinds of water insecurity, which, in turn, will increase state fragility and failure, increasing the potential for instability and potentially domestic and cross-border conflict. To give an example of the scale of the issue, a 2015 National Academy of Sciences study suggested that an increase in global temperatures of 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit — a business-as-usual scenario — could lock in enough eventual sea-level rise to submerge land currently home to 470 to 760 million people globally by the end of the century. Asia would be the hardest hit region, but more than 20 million people would be affected in U.S. coastal areas.
Ambassador (ret.) Ken Brill will discuss how climate change is producing water insecurity, the various forms that insecurity can take, what regions globally are most prone to experiencing water insecurity, what the long term implications of growing water insecurity are, how these issues are being addressed currently, and what more can be done manage water-related challenges to stability and prosperity.
DETAILS
Date: March 11
Time: 7:00 pm
Cost: FREE
Event Categories:
Global Education, Social Justice, Virtual Seminar
Event Tags:
Ambassador Kenneth Brill, climate change, Global Education
Website:
https://globalcincinnati.networkforgood.com/events/27216-too-much-and-never-enough-climate-change-and-water-insecurity
ORGANIZERS
The World Affairs Council of Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky
World Affairs Councils of America
The American Academy of Diplomacy
Aquisense Technologies
Date and Time
Thursday Mar 11, 2021
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM EST
March 11th
7:00 pm
Location
Virtual
Fees/Admission
Free