MOSCOW, February 14. /TASS/. Global climate change will lead to local crises and a surge in the number of armed conflicts, Petteri Taalas, Secretary General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in an exclusive interview with TASS First Deputy Director General Mikhail Gusman.
According to Taalas, some countries in the world suffer from severe droughts, which lead to socio-economic crises and political crises. "We have countries who already are suffering because of these extreme droughts, for example, at the moment, Ethiopia is having a severe drought, and so is Somalia. And then there is the so-called "Arab Spring". One of the components behind "the Arab Spring" was drought. In Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, and also Syria there were several years of drought which led to gaps in food production, unemployment of the rural population, and doubling of the food prices and that was the reason for the unrest. And this unrest in Syria still continues, and the situation in Libya is not very stable either," he said.
"Of course, there were other factors behind those crises, but the risk for such crises for sure will enhance. And we have for example many African countries where the living conditions are at the moment very challenging, and climate change will even boost these challenges. And we may see more migration of the people, and also local crises and even military crises as a consequence," the WMO Secretary General emphasized.
Taalas pointed to the seriousness of the problem of providing the world population with drinking water, which is complicated by climate change in the world. According to him, one of the biggest disasters of our time is floods. "We have now more humidity in the atmosphere, which means that when it rains, it often rains more. And some parts of the world have become drier," he added.
The third problem the organization is dealing with right now is the melting of glaciers, Taalas specified. He explained that many of the world's major rivers originate in mountain glaciers, and as those glaciers shrink, which is happening now, major rivers around the world will be fed less and less water. "It’s a case in Asia, it’s a case here in Europe in the Alps, in the Rocky Mountains in North America, and in the Andes in South America. The glaciers are shrinking, we are getting less water for drinking, less water for agriculture, less water for industry, he said. Personally, I see these changes in the precipitation and melting of the glaciers as the biggest climate change."
In addition, Taalas continued, food production for the world's growing population is a pressing issue. "We expect to see population growth, especially in Africa, and this is not the very nice equation. That’s a very good reason to be more active in the climate mitigation, to avoid this water-related crisis," he pointed out.