Climate Change, Resource Scarcity, And The New World Order

The US intelligence agency added the threat of resource shocks to its list of major threats.  Resource shocks were in the same category as global terrorism, cyberwarfare and nuclear proliferation.  This signals our entry into a new world order dominated by struggles over access to affordable natural resources.  This article describes how the increasing demand for scarce resources driven by population growth, urbanization, and rising demand for industrial production in emerging economies, will not be easily satisfied by growth in the supply of critical natural resources.  To make matters worse, climate change is listed as a threat multiplier.  It will exacerbate the problem of resource scarcity.  Competition for critical resources and rising prices for scarce resources often leads to warfare and political turmoils.  Its hard to imagine how our disjointed, and short term oriented political and economic institutions, will be able to cope with a future dominated by resource scarcity.