Ban Ki-moon tells CBC’s Margo McDiarmid social disruption could lead to more ‘terrorist fighters’
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, in an interview with CBC, said the effects of climate change will lead to social disruption, fuelling the frustration of the young and unemployed, who may then join extremist causes. (CBC)
The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says the attacks in Paris can’t overshadow efforts to reach a climate change agreement at next week’s summit. He also warns in an exclusive interview with CBC News of a possible link between climate change and terrorism.
CBC’s Margo McDiarmid spoke to Ban Ki-moon in Malta on Saturday at the Commonwealth summit and he talked about an indirect link between the effects of climate change and the rise of extremist groups.
“He said climate change has a similar effect to terrorism in that climate change can lead to social disruption, it can lead to climate refugees, which in itself can lead to people looking for other answers or joining terrorist groups, especially among young people,” McDiarmid said.
“When we do not address climate change properly it may also affect many people who are frustrated and who are impacted and there is some possibility that these young people who [are] jobless and frustrated may join these foreign terrorist fighters,” the UN chief said.
“There is a concern whether it may overshadow the climate change agreement and I think we have to move on this climate change [agreement],” he added.
French President Francois Hollande was meeting with environmental groups Saturday, pushing for an ambitious global deal to reduce man-made emissions blamed for global warming.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is among leaders attending the Paris talks, has been in Valetta, Malta for the Commonwealth meeting, where he pledged his government would spend $15.3 million over four years to improve the lives of young people in Africa.
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