University of Illinois research scientist Jurgen Scheffran, writing earlier this summer in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, said, "The impact of climate change on human and global security could extend far beyond the limited scope the world has seen thus far."

Scheffran said the four trends identified by the German Advisory Council on Global Change as among those most possibly destabilizing populations and governments are: degradation of freshwater resources, food insecurity, natural disasters and environmental migration.

"Environmental changes caused by global warming will not only affect human living conditions, but may also generate larger societal effects, by threatening the infrastructures of society or by inducing social responses that aggravate the problem," he said. "The associated socio-economic and political stress can undermine the functioning of communities, the effectiveness of institutions, and the stability of societal structures. These degraded conditions could contribute to civil strife and, worse, armed conflict."

Scheffran said the most critical strategy for forestalling otherwise insurmountable consequences is for governments to begin addressing climate change within national policy.