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WATER POLITICS

In their annual threat assessment, US spy agencies note climate, water, food stress abroad as national security risks, calling out Iran’s water shortages in particular:

The Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community reports: “The accelerating effects of climate change are placing more of the world’s population, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, at greater risk from extreme weather, food and water insecurity, and humanitarian disasters, fueling migration flows and increasing the risks of future pandemics as pathogens exploit the changing environment.”

The assessment notes that Iran “will be increasingly challenged by climate change as water becomes scarce…. The impacts of the long-term trends toward a warming climate, more air pollution, biodiversity loss, and water scarcity are likely to fuel economic and social discontent — and possibly upheaval — through 2018.” — Excerpt from the Worldwide Threat Assessment, an annual national security evaluation from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence