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Prince Charles: Climate change a cause of Syria war

Jane Onyanga-Omara
USA TODAY
Britain's Prince Charles begins a tour of the restored historical State Buildings in Perth, Australia, on November 15, 2015.

LONDON — Britain's Prince Charles said that climate change could be one of the causes of the civil war in Syria, terrorism and Europe's refugee crisis.

Charles, a known environmental campaigner, is scheduled to give a keynote speech at the opening of the United Nations conference on climate change in Paris next week.

In an interview with Sky News due to be aired Monday, the heir to the British throne said he was concerned that disaster would follow if issues such as global warming are not addressed more urgently.

The interview was filmed three weeks ago, before the terror attacks in Paris that killed 130 people, Sky said.

"We're seeing a classic case of not dealing with the problem, because, I mean, it sounds awful to say, but some of us were saying 20 years ago that if we didn't tackle these issues, you would see ever greater conflict over scarce resources and ever greater difficulties over drought, and the accumulating effect of climate change, which means that people have to move," the prince told the broadcaster.

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"And, in fact, there's very good evidence indeed that one of the major reasons for this horror in Syria, funnily enough, was a drought that lasted for about five or six years, which meant that huge numbers of people in the end had to leave the land."

Asked if there is a link between climate change, conflict and terrorism, he said: "It's only in the last few years that the Pentagon has actually started to pay attention to this. I mean, it has a huge impact on what is happening."

He also said he doubted whether the 118 leaders attending the Paris talks will be able to reach a deal to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

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There's been so many of these conferences that have happened over the years and I think I go back quite a long way on all this," he said.

At least 250,000 people have been killed and more than 4 million refugees have been forced to flee Syria — according to the UN — since the civil war started in 2011.

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