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The flash drought and its associated heat wave that affected western Russia in the summer of 2010 had significant cascading agricultural and socioeconomic impacts. Drought indicators sensitive to soil moisture and evapotranspiration (ET) showed that the flash drought began in June 2010, then intensified rapidly and expanded to cover much of western Russia. By early July, almost all of the major wheat producing regions of Russia were experiencing extreme water stress to the winter and spring wheat crops. The timing of the onset of the flash drought was particularly devastating as the period of most rapid intensification overlapped with the flowering stage for both the winter and spring wheat crops. As a result, wheat yields in Russia were reduced by over 70 percent in top wheat producing oblasts and total wheat production was reduced by 20 million metric tons (MT) compared to the previous seasons. In fulfillment of its recently adopted Food Security Doctrine, the Russian government banned the export of wheat in early August 2010 to preserve wheat for its own consumption. Further compounding matters on a global scale, the significant reduction in wheat production in Russia coincided with wheat production issues in places like western Australia, which led to a large drop in global wheat stocks. The sharp drop in global wheat stocks coincided with a rapid increase in wheat prices across the globe. The rapid increase in wheat prices, partly resulting from the rapid intensification of drought in Russia, led to increased prices for wheat flour and bread in many countries throughout the world. This ultimately led to an increase in poverty and civil unrest in countries like Mozambique and Egypt with a history of inequality and poverty.

The effects of climate change stand to heighten nuclear risks in various ways, including direct impacts on nuclear facilities, exacerbation of political and economic disruptions, and a diminishment...

This chapter explores the climate and natural resource elements of Syria's state fragility. From 2006 to 2012, Syria experienced one of the worst long-term droughts and most severe set of crop failures and livestock devastation in its history of records, with the period from 2009–2012 registering as the most extreme drought conditions across a number of regions. The evidence suggests that the probability of such a severe-to-extreme drought period from 2006–2012 increased as a result of anthropogenic climate change. Less attention has been paid, however, to significant agricultural, pastoral, environmental and climatic changes in Syria. Combined with the mismanagement of water and food resources by the al-Assad regime, which between 2007 and 2011, these changes converged to precipitate a severe humanitarian crisis. Assessment on Global Water Security notes that 'by 2025, ISciences projects that water stress increases significantly in many locations throughout the world, including North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia'.