Alongside international terrorism and energy shortfalls, climate change could become a major source of global conflict over the next 30 years, with countries battling for control of water supplies, British Defense Secretary John Reid has warned. Reid was addressing a conference on “Transatlantic Defence Partnerships - Managing Divergence” at Chatham House, a London-based think thank on international affairs. Britain's armed forces would have to be prepared to cope with conflicts over shrinking resources, he suggested. Reid’s views were echoed by several NATO officials at the conference who also cited climate change as a growing threat to security.

Reid said climate change was already contributing to conflicts in Africa, like the one in Darfur, and pointed to an uncertain future for impoverished countries unequipped to deal with water shortages, flooding and desertification. "More than 300 million people in Africa currently lack access to safe water; climate change will worsen this dire situation", he added.

In the past, water experts like Peter Gleick [1], have stressed that water resources have rarely, if ever, been the sole source of violent conflict or war. Aaron Wolf [2] and UNESCO/Green Cross International [3] have pointed to the fact that, historically, water scarcity has often stimulated cooperation rather than conflict.

[1] The World’s Water – Water and Conflict

[2] Debunking the notion of "water wars", see also Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database

[3] Unesco - World Water Assessment Programme - From Potential Conflict to Cooperation Potential (PCCP)

Related news: Climate change: extreme scenario predicts water wars, Source Weekly, 9 Mar 2004 ; Water wars: a review of water scarcity and water conflict, Source Weekly, 31 May 2005

Contact: Chatham House, UK, contact@chathamhouse.org.uk,

Source: UPI, 28 Feb 2006 ; Michael T. Klare, The Coming Resource Wars, TomPaine.com, 7 Mar 2006

Tags: policies & legislation, water resources management