"Climate change does not directly cause conflict, but it can add to the challenges of global instability, hunger, poverty, and conflict. Food and water shortages, pandemic disease, disputes over refugees and resources, more severe natural disasters – all place additional burdens on economies, societies and institutions around the world," said he US Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia, as reported by Acclimatise.
Anna Haworth of Acclimatise concluded that climate change is a serious issue affecting military strategy and that military strategists "must consider the impacts climate change-driven environmental and geo-political changes will have on national security, both in the Arctic and elsewhere."