Peace researcher: World is heading for a new age of crisis

Created: 05/23/2022Updated: 05/23/2022, 00:34

The climate crisis is one of the greatest global challenges.

© Manish Swarup/AP/dpa

A report by the Sipri research institute on the global security situation paints a worrying picture.

Decision-makers are not prepared for the new era of crises.

According to the research institute Sipri, a dangerous mixture of environmental and security crises poses complex risks for peace in the world.

In a report published on Monday, peace researchers from Stockholm warn that decision-makers are not prepared for this “new age of risks”.

It paints a bleak picture of the future global security situation.

The report shows how environmental crises - climate change, scarcity of resources, species extinction - interact with security crises and other threats such as the corona pandemic.

“Institutions are waking up too slowly”

Sweden's former Foreign Minister and EU Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström writes in the foreword: "The mixture is toxic, pervasive and harmful.

And institutions with the power to find solutions are waking up far too slowly.”

In Somalia, for example, persistent drought and other consequences of climate change, combined with poverty and a weak government, have driven people into the arms of the Islamist terrorist militia al-Shabaab, they say.

In Central America, the effects of climate change on grain harvests, combined with violence and corruption, increased migration towards the United States.

"Many environmental experts argue that we are at a crucial point: we can let the environmental crisis take its course or recognize the problem now and do something about it," said Sipri director Dan Smith of the German press agency.

"The bad news is that this extremely important moment comes at a time when international politics is in a terrible state."