IF THE world fails to act soon on climate change, "preserving security and stability even at current levels will become increasingly difficult". That's the blunt message of a statement released in Washington DC (PDF) last week by 10 high-ranking military officials from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the US.

The group, which makes up the military advisory council of the Institute for Environmental Security in The Hague, the Netherlands, is calling on governments to produce an "ambitious and equitable" international agreement at the Copenhagen climate talks in December.


"Environmental security and climate change in particular are now issues which threaten world security and peace," says Brigadier General Wendell King of the US Army Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.