Australian Agency Warns Arctic Melting Could Lead To Conflict Over Energy Deposits

摘要

A climate change briefing prepared for Australia's Department of Defense, parts of which the department made public this month following a freedom of information request by a major newspaper, says conflict over undersea energy deposits in the arctic is a possibility. The document was authorized Feb. 19, 2008, by the department's then-deputy secretary of strategy, coordination and governance, Michael Pezzullo. It said the Arctic is melting, potentially making the extraction of the energy deposits commercially viable. "Sovereignty over areas of the arctic (and the deposits) is contested by countries such as Russia, Canada, Norway and Denmark. Conflict is a remote possibility if these disputes are not resolved peacefully," it says. The briefing says Australia is "unlikely to face any immediate security implications from climate change." However, environmental stress attributable to climate change and other factors "will act as a threat multiplier in fragile states around the world, increasing the chance of state failure." The briefing also says climate change will alter the location of Southeast Asian fishing grounds, "causing an increase in illegal fishing in Australia's northern waters."