Media

Global Climate Change Could Lead to War and Population Collapse

19 Nov 2007

 

There is an added social dimension to global warming and cooling, on top of their economic implications. Global climate change is becoming a security issue, as scientists reveal worldwide war ratio in a cold climate almost doubled that of a mild climate, and this is true across the world in the Northern Hemisphere (NH), Asia, arid areas of the NH, and Europe.

The research will help us envisage the chain effects of insufficient livelihood resources, more armed conflicts or even global crisis arising from continuous global warming.

HKU Department of Geography Professor David Zhang and researcher Mr. Harry Lee have in their research explored the effects of climate change on the outbreak of war and population collapse in the world. It was revealed that majority of countries and areas around the globe had higher war ratios in a cold climate, and that worldwide and synchronistic war-peace, population, and price cycles in recent centuries have been driven mainly by long-term climate change.

The research paper will be published in the upcoming December issue of PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America), the most important journal in Science and Social Sciences in USA and one of the top three journals in the world. It is the first quantitative and scientifically based study in the world in illustrating the impact of climate change on human societies in recent human history at global and continental scales.

Members of the media are invited to a press briefing in Hong Kong, the details are:
Date: 21 Nov 2007 (Wed)
Time: 2.00pm
Venue: Rm 218 Convocation Room, Main Building, University of Hong Kong
Speakers: Professor David Zhang and Mr. Harry Lee, Dept of Geography, HKU
Medium : Cantonese (with English translation)