ASP CEO BGen Stephen Cheney was recently interviewed by the Environmental Business Journal regarding the connections between climate change and international security.  When asked specifically about how climate change affects military conflict today, Cheney responded:

“Not many people would associate the Arab Spring that began in 2011 with climate change. But in 2010, leading up to those events, drought, record-high temperatures and forest fres decimated the Russian wheat crop which caused the price of wheat to escalate in the Middle East, where bread is the main staple.

In Syria, from 2007 to 2011, the country experienced the worst drought in its history. That caused significant migrations of people from agrarian areas to the main cities, Aleppo being the most prominent. When the Arab Spring hit there, people who were upset with the government over the costs of necessities like food and water began to protest, which ultimately led to the civil war.”

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