Climate emergency a ‘national security’ concern, says Red Cross

People collect water from a salt water well during a prolonged drought in Mochesa, Kenya. The Red Cross said 1.7 billion people already face food and water shortages. Photograph: Getty Images

Governments must start treating the climate crisis as a national security concern on a par with war as climate breakdown threatens countries’ stability and safety, the global chief of the Red Cross has warned.

Jagan Chapagain, secretary general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said: “People should be seeing the climate as a national security issue, as it is having an impact on national security. We need to see that the climate crisis is not only having an environmental impact, but a very significant security impact.”