Climate insecurity: threat multiplier or bridge-builder?

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To the Institute of Defence and Strategic Analysis (IDSA) in New Delhi over the weekend for a fascinating panel discussion with some of India's climate change A team, including Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh and Prime Minister's Special Envoy Shyam Saran for the government, Nitin Desai, Ligia Norona and Arvind Gupta from influential think-tanks The Energy Resource Institute (TERI) and IDSA. The occasion was the launch of a working group report on the security implications of climate change for India. This is a subject of increasing concern for Western security thinkers too. The concern is not that climate change will lead to war in itself, but that it will act as a "threat multiplier", increasing the risk of conflict and reducing human security. It's not difficult to envision how this might play out in South Asia. Take the obvious example of water: it's an increasingly scarce resource for India and....