By Richard Torné
South east Spain will become a high risk area “where crises could emerge” due to rising sea levels, water shortages and scarce resources, a UK ministry of defence paper has concluded.
The 60-page report, entitled ‘Future Operating Environment 2035’, sets out UK foreign and military policy 20 years from now by presenting hypothetical threats based on current global trends.
Using “evidence-based research”, the report says that much of the world’s population will live in cities, “with many located on or near the coast”.
But it warns that extreme climatic events “are likely to increase in intensity, frequency and duration”, leading to population migration on a large scale.
While not naming any specific country, the report’s ‘global stress map’ highlights the south east of Spain, in addition to the south of Italy, the Balkans, Greece and Turkey as highly vulnerable areas most likely to be affected by the changes.
