In a new interview published this weekend, Prince Charles linked climate change with the crisis in Syria, terrorism, ISIS and the refugee crisis.
Charles, the heir to the British throne, told Sky News that he believes a drought in Syria is one of the causes for the current civil war there and the rise of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. Climate change has been an issue close to Charles’ heart and the comments come just before COP21, the UN’s climate summit, which starts next week.
“We're seeing a classic case of not dealing with the problem, because, I mean, it sounds awful to say, but some of us were saying 20 years ago that if we didn't tackle these issues, you would see ever greater conflict over scarce resources and ever greater difficulties over drought, and the accumulating effect of climate change, which means that people have to move,” Charles explained.
He continued, “And, in fact, there's very good evidence indeed that one of the major reasons for this horror in Syria, funnily enough, was a drought that lasted for about five or six years, which meant that huge numbers of people in the end had to leave the land.”
Later in the interview, which was filmed before the terrorism attacks in Paris, Charles was asked if there was a direct link between climate change and terrorism. “It's only in the last few years that the Pentagon has actually started to pay attention to this. I mean, it has a huge impact on what is happening,” he said.
Charles is not the only person to link the historic 2006-2009 drought in Syria to the crisis there. As the New York Times reported in March, a study was published in Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences that plamed climate change for worsening the drought.
The Prince of Wales will deliver a keynote address at COP21.