Yurun Jin

As one of the major threats to human security, climate change has become a new challenge to national security and social development. The extreme weather caused by frequent global warming has caused major harm to the safety of people’s lives and property in China and posed a major challenge to national security. Therefore, the government must pay attention to the security challenges brought about by climate change, accelerate the construction of a climate-resilient society, and mitigate the disasters caused by climate change.

Climate Change Problem

People are becoming increasingly aware that global environmental changes linked to global warming are occurring, and that the climate trend that continues to warm in the future will have an impact on ecosystems and humans. If it increases further, the consequences will be detrimental to human society as a whole.

In 2003, the U.S. Department of Defense published the report ” An Abrupt Climate Change Scenario and Its Implications for United States National Security” (Schwartz, 2003), which pointed out that climate change poses a major challenge to the entire world’s development. With the increase in greenhouse gas emissions and the rise in global average temperature, the sea level has risen and the frequency of extreme weather events has increased. In addition to increasing pressure on housing, land, and infrastructure due to urbanization, population growth, and economic growth, climate change further exacerbates water shortages. Therefore the world is currently facing poverty, environmental degradation, political instability, and social tensions. Storms, droughts, and floods exacerbate social instability, weaken government governance capacity, and respond to climate catastrophe events, leading to humanitarian disasters. As a result of climate change, infrastructure, food production, and people’s lives and property are all at risk. Several climate security challenges are also present globally, such as migration, resource scarcity conflicts, reduced food production, and water scarcity.

The issue of climate change itself also has deep ethical implications, especially when it comes to national security issues. In the risk society proposed by Giddens (Beck, U., 1992 (trans. Mark Ritter), society and individuals are constantly self-destructing. Society is going to self-destruct through the destruction of the ecological environment through the development of the industry. With the intensification of climate change, individuals and society will face greater risk. Climate change has increasingly become an important cause of international conflicts, affecting the security and stability of the international community.

The Current Situation of Security Issues in China

Since China is one of the most severely affected countries by climate change, it has taken climate security issues more seriously in recent years. Climate change has broad and far-reaching implications for China’s national security, and its impact will increase over time. Some studies have pointed out that the frequent occurrence of extreme climate events caused by climate change will challenge the governance capacity and political stability of the Chinese government (Du, 2017). Climate change has a negative impact on China’s water resources and food production, and the ever-increasing extreme climate events have a serious impact on people’s lives, property, and way of life. The reduction of river runoff due to climate change could lead to competition for water resources across borders, migration flows across borders, and possibly even international disputes and armed conflicts.

The “Third National Assessment Report on Climate Change” (Editorial Board of “Third National Assessment Report on Climate Change” , 2015) in China pointed out that climate change has had a profound impact on the structure and function of the country’s natural ecosystems, reducing precipitation in most areas of North China and Northeast China, reducing the runoff of many northern rivers, and exacerbating problems such as water shortages. The increase of extreme climate events (including frequency and intensity) will have a greater impact on agricultural production and natural resources, and will also have a greater impact on human health, disease transmission, and major projects.

The main challenges facing China’s national climate security include:

(1) China has a large population and a relatively low level of economic development. Developing the economy and improving people’s living standards is an urgent task facing China, which determines that the input of resources to deal with climate change is limited.

(2) China has a fragile ecological environment so that it is arduous to adapt to climate change. The forest coverage rate is 18%, which is only 62% of the world average(“The forests of the republic are growing”, 2009). The area of ​​natural wetlands is relatively small. Most of the grasslands are alpine grasslands and desert grasslands. The temperate grasslands in the north are affected by drought and deterioration which lead to the danger of degradation and desertification. The coastline of mainland China is more than 18,000 kilometers long(“Profile of the People of Republic of China”, 2019), which is vulnerable to the adverse effects of rising sea levels.

(3) China’s industrialization and urbanization process has not yet been completed, and the coal-based energy structure has led to complicated climate change adaptation. Chinese industrialization, urbanization, and modernization remain unfinished . In the future, energy demand still needs to maintain a reasonable room for growth. The coal-dominated energy structure will be difficult to change for a long time in the future, and it will be more difficult to control greenhouse gas emissions.

Ways o Improve China’s National Climate Security

The solutions to climate change cover many areas and should be considered in an overall sight within the overall national security framework. The security issues related to climate change in China mainly include:

(1) Water resources security and precipitation and drought issues; For example, the government should fully consider urban flood discharge in urban planning and infrastructure construction.  As for the drought problem, more attention should be paid to how to solve the larger-scale drought and water shortage problems in the Northwest, North China, and even the Northeast in addition to the two major water diversion projects, ‘South-North Water Transfer Project’(“The Introduction to South-North Water Transfer Project”,2021)  and ‘Central Line Project of South-to-North Water Diversion’(“The Introduction to South-North Water Transfer Project”,2021).

(2) Food security and land security; Food production must take into account factors such as the long-term impact of climate change and short-term impact, and try to keep enough healthy planting area and increase supply elasticity.

(3) Human health and life safety; The government needs to closely track and grasp the dynamic changes of natural disasters and major emergencies caused by climate change and establish an effective early warning and prevention system.

(4) Ecological security; The country should scientifically develop and rationally utilize climate resources , and strive to improve the quality of the atmosphere. One way is to use wind and solar energy instead of coal and fossil fuels.

(5) Coastal cities and coastal zone safety; For coastal cities, investments in sustainable infrastructure like ecological wetland, filter system, living breakwaters can not only generate economic benefits but also help reduce climate vulnerability and climate risks(“A Sustainable Ocean Economy”, 2018)

References

Schwartz, Peter & Randall, Doug. (2003). An Abrupt Climate Change Scenario and Its Implications for United States National Security. IATP, 23

U. Beck. (1992). The Risk Society(trans. Mark Ritter). Sage Publications

杜红娟. (2017). 气候变化对中国国家安全的影响. 法制博览, 06

《第三次气候变化国家评估报告》编写委员会. (2015). 第三次气候变化国家评估报告 : 应对气候变化典型案例集. [M].  北京：科学出版社

Editorial Board of “Third National Assessment Report on Climate Change”. (2015). Third National Assessment Report on Climate Change. Retrieved from http://www.gov.cn/wszb/zhibo354/content_1465687.htm

Profile of the People of Republic of China.  (2009). Retrieved from http://www.gov.cn/ziliao/zgjk/2005-06/16/content_6816.htm

The Introduction to South-North Water Transfer Project. (2021). Retrieved from http://www.csnwd.com.cn/gcjs/ztgh/

A Sustainable Ocean Economy. (2018). Retrieved from http://oceanpanel.org