Significant Threats to Global Security

Significant Threats to Global Security
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Threats to Global Security
The Rise in Oceans’ Levels
Rising sea levels significantly threaten global security since it creates conflict and instability. The United Nations (2023a) highlighted that the higher sea levels cause forced migration that displaces masses, stiff competition over scarce natural resources, endangered nations, territory loss, and coastlines destruction.
Factors that make it a Serious Risk
The temperature rise threatens and causes severe impacts against mega-cities and countries on every continent in the world. Rising ocean levels cause fierce competition for land, healthcare, fresh water, food, and other resources in the global environment (United Nations, 2023b). The increase in ocean levels pushes coastlines inwards, which impacts baselines from which nations measure their maritime zones and thus threatens nations' security and access to resources (United Nations, 2023b). United Nations (2023a) outlined that pushing the coastlines causes higher competition over limited resources, displacement and forced migration of masses, global food insecurity, and the loss of State territories since submerging of coastlands poses risks for States' existence.
Moreover, saltwater intrusion into the oceans and coral reef bleaching associated with rising sea levels negatively contaminate land and freshwater resources. They impact lives, economies, and livelihoods in various industries, including tourism, agriculture, and fisheries (United Nations, 2023a). Elevated sea levels can also destroy and damage crucial infrastructure, like schools, hospitals, and transportation systems (United Nations, 2023b). Besides, as the ocean levels rise, many world cities face devastations due to security challenges, shrinking landmasses, food insecurity, and negative impacts on people’s health and rights (United Nations, 2023a). Additionally, rising sea levels cause physical effects like flooding, coastal storms, displacement of wetlands, desertification, coastal erosion, and drought. Such environmental problems adversely impact global security by causing conflicts or social tensions with neighboring nations.
Graphical Illustration of this Risk
Figure 1
Rising Sea Level Data
Note: By Masterson, V., & Hall, S. (2022, September 29). Sea level rise: Everything you need to know. World Economic Forum. /agenda/2022/09/rising-sea-levels-global-threat/
Sea levels have increased over the past years, and the sea's surface height keeps rising. Between 1900 and 1920, the ocean's surface height changed by approximately 48mm, increasing the sea level (Masterson & Hall, 2022). From the graphical illustration, the sea levels increased by more than 200 mm by 2020. According to US government agencies like the US space agency, sea levels alongside the nation's coastlines can increase by 25-30cm by 2050 (Masterson & Hall, 2022). Furthermore, this increase in 30 years from 2020 is comparable to the total ocean level increase over the last 100 years, proving the rampant global threat associated with rising ocean levels.
According to United Nations (2023a), rising sea levels devastate many parts of the globe by decimating livelihoods in the agriculture and tourism sectors. Therefore, rising sea levels deeply affect global peace and security since it causes loss of territories, communities, and population displacement. There is a prediction that more than 410 million individuals are at risk from increasing ocean levels by 2100. Ocean levels had increased rapidly since about 1850, when individuals began burning coal. This global challenge affects small developing states to large developed economies (Masterson & Hall, 2022). Therefore, people should be cautious in their acts, like burning fuel fossils, deforestation, and agricultural activities, to mitigate the threat.
Human Roles towards this Threat
Indeed, human activities significantly aggravate the rise in oceans' levels, a global threat to the Earth's environment. Human activities cause global warming, increasing greenhouse gas emissions and sea levels (University of California, 2023). As people perform agricultural activities, burn fossil fuels, and cut down trees (deforestation), there is warming at the poles due to an increase in average global temperatures. Consequently, the ice sheets and glaciers on land melt, increasing the water level in the ocean. Alternatively, thermal expansion can cause the sea level to rise. It occurs when the sea's water expands and takes more space after absorbing heat from the warm atmosphere (University of California, 2023). Due to scarce resources for fertile lands, people use chemicals in farming to get more yields with less land. They use chemicals like fertilizers to increase productivity and pesticides to kill pests (Morgan, n.d). However, using chemicals during farming releases greenhouse gases, leading to global warming and thermal expansion which increase the sea level.
Undoubtedly, the higher sea levels devastate fertile deltas along rivers. The sinking of river deltas and arable lands impacts people's survival since the world's nutrition that feeds the colossal global population depends on fertile lands and water (United Nations, 2023a). The elevated demand for food to meet the world’s population needs require people to increase the total agricultural yields. Nevertheless, increasing livestock and crop outputs leads to increased global emissions, which increases sea levels. Alternatively, deforestation contributes to global warming since the carbon dioxide stored in trees is released into the atmosphere. Consequently, the excess atmospheric heat leads to high sea levels because of thermal expansion. Therefore, human activities dramatically lead to global warming and increased sea levels.
Initiatives to Mitigate the Effects
The global community needs to implement commitments and approaches for climate action to minimize rising ocean levels and their effects. The commitments should urge citizens to avoid or reduce the acts that aggravate the release of gases into the atmosphere, which leads to global warming and elevated sea levels. Nations should implement strategies and policies such as reforestation, a circular carbon economy, coral reef protection, and land rehabilitation (United Nations, 2023a). Individuals should thus avoid cutting tropical trees down, burning fuels like oil and coal, and harmful agricultural activities that cause global warming, like pesticide use. Furthermore, countries in the global communities should make financing more accessible in the coastline areas to enable them to adapt to the adverse effects of climate change.
Additionally, it is necessary to "freeze" or preserve maritime zones' outer limits and baselines to enhance global security and legal stability (United Nations, 2023a). Furthermore, nations should implement innovative, practical, legal solutions considering individuals' human rights. States should enact laws and policies regarding climate change to prev...