State of the World 2005: Redefining Global Security

Shlomo Lipetz, a student enrolled in USP2, found an interesting article in the Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper (Jan 12, 2005). He translated some of the details for us below (the article provides a summary of a report recently published by World Watch).

World Watch, an influential global environmental advocacy organization, signaled out natural resources as the leading cause of wars and conflict around the world in recent years. According to the the World Watch report, problems involving natural resources have been responsible for over 1/4 of all wars and conflicts in the past decade. It also noted that 37% of all energy produced originates from oil, and that six out of the 10 biggest corporations worldwide are oil companies. The top 10 oil companies make over 400 billion dollars a year in profits. The report also mentions that today there are over 30 million people who are defined as environmental refugees (i.e., people who have been forced to leave their country due to a range of factors including destruction of water sources, loss of fertile land , desertification, deforestation, and the decline of fisheries). According to the report, this figure of 30 million environmental refugees is expected to grow in upcoming years due to global warming. More then 400 million people around the world currently suffer from water shortages, and 2 billion people suffer from hunger. An estimated 75% of the genetic variation in the worlds main supply of agricultural products has been eliminated; this has made it difficult for farmers to deal with pesticides and diseases.