The Impact of Climate Change on Cultural Security

Abstract

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges and most pressing issues faced by humanity in the modern era. Extreme weather events, changes to world ecosystems, species extinction, disruption of animal and human migration, resource shortages, socio-economic concerns, outbreaks and pandemics, as well as domestic and international conflicts represent only a few select potential climate change consequences. Regrettably, when considering the issues pertinent to climate change, one of the oft-overlooked areas is cultural security. Rising sea levels will lead to some of the world’s islands and coastal cities essentially being erased from Earth, resulting in the destruction, and possibly even the disappearance, of their cultural heritage. Inhabitants of endangered and unlivable areas are likely to drive mass exodus on a global scale, and forcibly displaced persons who find themselves in a new socio-cultural reality face countless challenges that will hinder their sense of cultural security. The most immediate concerns are related to the potential eruption of local and regional conflicts, emergence of negative social behaviors, disappearance of national language and cultural identity, and statelessness due to a loss of habitable lands, all of which pose severe threats to cultural security.