"Weather Disasters Raise Conflict Risk In Multi-Ethnic Nations: Study"

"OSLO --  Multi-ethnic nations are vulnerable to armed conflicts after weather disasters such as heatwaves and droughts in a trend that could worsen with global warming, scientists said on Monday.

The outbreak of 23 percent of armed conflicts in ethnically diverse countries, a group that includes Afghanistan and Somalia, since 1980 coincided in the same month with such weather disasters, the study said.

By contrast, only 9 percent of all conflicts worldwide in the same period overlapped with such a calamity, it said. That suggests that nations with pre-existing faultlines of many ethnic groups are particularly vulnerable to extreme weather events that may get more severe with global warming, it said."

Alister Doyle reports for Reuters July 25, 2015.