Climate change seen posing threat to global peace in next 10 years

LONDON - Climate change poses a threat to peace in countries around the world in the coming decade, according to an annual peace index released on Wednesday that factored in the risk from global warming for the first time.

Nearly a billion people live in areas at high risk from global warming and about 40% of them are in countries already struggling with conflict, said the Australia-based Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP).

Climate change causes conflict due to competition over diminishing resources and may also threaten livelihoods and force mass migration, it said.

"Going forward, climate change is going to be a substantial problem," Steve Killelea, executive chairman of the IEP, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"We can actually get a much better idea of which countries are most at risk, what are the types of risk and what would be the level of impact before it leads to a break or an implosion within the country."

In 2019, the world became very slightly more peaceful for the first time in five years, said the IEP, which used data from groups including think tanks, research institutes, governments and universities to compile the index.

However, it remains significantly less peaceful than 10 years ago due to factors including conflicts in the Middle East, a rise in terrorism, and increasing numbers of refugees.

The index assigns each country a score between one and five, where one is the most peaceful and five is the least, based on 23 indicators ranging from homicide levels to weapons imports.

The effects of climate change can create a "tipping point", exacerbating tensions until a breaking point is reached, particularly in countries that are already struggling, said Killelea.

Tackling entrenched conflicts may also help countries cooperate better on global warming, he said.

"Unless we have a world which is basically peaceful, it will be impossible to get the levels of trust and cooperation necessary to solve these problems," he said.

Experts at global research organisation the World Resources Institute praised the inclusion of climate change as a factor in conflict risk.

"We know that environmental degradation and water stress can lead to hunger, famine and displacement, and combined with economic and political instability, can lead to migration and conflict," said Manish Bapna, managing director of the WRI.

"The fact that climate change is now part of the Global Peace Index underscores how multi-faceted this threat is and how quickly we need to act."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Airbnb partners with aid agency for refugees

LONDON - Home-sharing website Airbnb has partnered with global aid agency International Rescue Committee (IRC) to provide short-term accommodation for refugees, joining a number of companies that has voiced their support for people fleeing conflicts.

The company said it plans to house 100,000 people in temporary homes over the next five years, including refugees, displaced people, disaster survivors and overseas aid workers. It has also pledged $4 million to the IRC.

"People who've been displaced, whether because of war or conflict or other factors, are acutely vulnerable to not being accepted," the company said in a statement this week.

"They are, quite literally, in need of a place to belong, which is why we've been inspired to take action," it said, encouraging customers to join the campaign by hosting refugees.

Former US Secretary of State, John Kerry supported the initiative, posting on Twitter: "Heartened to see people and companies standing with those doing so much good for those most in need -- leadership that's needed!"

Last week Airbnb offered free accommodation to refugees and others barred from entering the United States due to President Donald Trump's immigration curbs, which have since been temporarily suspended after a court ruling.

"It is important to remember that refugees have fled great harm, and in many cases their journey to the U.S. have been long and arduous. Now we want them to begin to feel at home," IRC spokeswoman Lucy Keating told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Airbnb is one of several global companies that has supported refugees after Trump's proposed 90-day travel ban on citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, and a 120-day bar on all refugees.

Swedish furniture giant IKEA last week announced it would stock rugs and textiles made by Syrian refugees by 2019, employing mostly refugee women living in Jordanian camps.

"The situation in Syria is a major tragedy of our time, and Jordan has taken a great responsibility in hosting Syrian refugees," said IKEA spokeswoman Johanna Martin.

"We decided to look into how IKEA can contribute in supporting Jordan's journey in integrating refugees with locals in labor market through jobs," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, adding that production should start by September.

But initiatives to help refugees have not been welcomed by everyone.

Global coffee chain Starbucks faced a backlash on social media last week after the company announced it would hire 10,000 refugees over the next five years in the United States.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Climate-change naysayers better at war of words, study finds

NEW YORK - Climate-change opponents are better at spreading their point of view than those who see climate change as real and troublesome, according to a study underlining the challenge of rallying public support as world leaders meet in Paris to discuss the environmental threat.

The naysayers did well at changing the minds of both liberal and conservative Americans in a study of about 1,600 U.S. adults conducted by Michigan State University researchers.

Respondents were asked to read fabricated news articles about climate change.

Half the articles had positive messages, such as the benefits of reducing climate change, while the rest were negative, such as suggesting climate change is exaggerated.

The positive messages had little or no effect on the participants' core beliefs about climate change, but negative messages prompted participants to doubt its existence, the study found.

The study illustrates the influence of climate-change opponents in the United States, said lead investigator Aaron McCright, an associate professor of sociology at Michigan State.

"That's the power of the denial message," McCright told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a telephone interview. "It's one of these really polarizing emotional topics."

Research shows the vast majority of U.S. adults believe in the existence of climate change and that manmade emissions are warming the planet.

Conservative opponents are typically hostile to policies that might drive a shift to renewable energy from fossil fuels.

A handful of climate-change skeptics have been on hand this week in Paris, where leaders and negotiators from nearly 200 nations are meeting in an effort to hammer out a treaty to combat climate change and move toward a low carbon global economy.

The Michigan State report was published earlier this month online in the journal "Topics in Cognitive Science."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com