South Asia’s Dual Dilemma: Climate Impacts Heighten Conflict Vulnerability

Laraib Farhat

Issue & Policy Briefs July, 2023

South Asia has been confronted with a conflictual crisis for decades now. The arch of vulnerability that this region faces ascends from its long-rooted history of colonialism that left it with a traumatic past and is lingering to date. The conflicts created at that juncture and fortified over time have made this region vulnerable to any internal or external influence. The already declined state of South Asia’s security landscape has been further compromised under the looming climate emergency. With rising temperatures, melting glaciers, and depleting natural resources compounded by South Asia’s internal instability and external intimidations, the region is subject to a mounting dual dilemma. This issue brief looks into two areas of heightened vulnerability for the region—climate-induced migration coincided with conflict escalation and development-induced migration along with the rising energy crises that could become a potential hotspot for conflict in the region.

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