The Pentagon has said that climate change poses immediate risks to our national security. U.S. intelligence and security leaders predict that resource scarcity will be our next big threat. The World Wildlife Fund's new initiative "In Pursuit of Prosperity" seeks to make sustainability a core component of U.S. foreign policy.
WWF says that scarcities in one country can spill over into relations with neighboring countries as governments try to access natural resources-such as timber, water and energy-through legal and illegal means. Tensions among neighbors, ranging from the US.-Mexico border to India and Pakistan, are on the rise. California, America's fruit and food basket, is currently experiencing one of the most severe droughts in over a century. The result is higher food prices and declining water stocks.
WWF argues that equal, safe and responsible distribution of natural resources can reduce worldwide conflicts, improve environmental sustainability and extend supplies' lifespan for generations to come and that to achieve this, governments must work together to legislate and enforce solutions that make environmental and geopolitical sense.
On Thursday's AU our guest is David Reed, Senior Policy Advisor at WWF and author of "In Pursuit of Prosperity: U.S. Foreign Policy in an Era of Natural Resource Scarcity."
