Climate Change: A Geopolitical Risk?

Though there is still no absolute scientific and political consensus on the reality of climate change, concerns about the climate long ago passed beyond the realm of specialist debate, as can be seen from the notoriety acquired by the two Nobel Peace Prize laureates of 2007, the former US vice-president Al Gore and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). For the futurist, it is time to take a step further and think not only about ways and means of limiting the consequences of human action on the climate, but also about the knock-on effects of climate change on human activities.
Beyond the economic consequences of climatic deterioration, another major question arises: namely, that of the direct and indirect impacts of climate change on the international context and on the future landscape of violence, conflicts, risks and threats. This is the theme that has been chosen – after “2030: the Demographic Big Bang” – for the second foresight co-production between Futuribles, Mano-a-Mano and the Arte TV channel, a programme which is due to air on Arte on 20 May 2008. For the programme we have interviewed Peter Schwartz on this topic. Schwartz, the founder of the Global Business Network, is a renowned futurist, who may be regarded as a pioneer in terms of the study of the threats posed by climate change to international peace and security.