Prince Charles: Climate change fueled crisis in Syria
LONDON -- Prince Charles says climate change is partly responsible for Syria's civil war and the chaos it has unleashed.
The heir to the British throne says climate change is causing drought, conflict over resources and mass migrations.
He told Sky News that "one of the major reasons for this horror in Syria" is a years-long drought which meant that "huge numbers of people" had to leave their homes in the countryside and move into the cities. "This combined to create a very difficult situation," he said, with a "huge impact" on conflict and extremism.
"It's only in the last few years the Pentagon has actually started to pay attention to this, because it has a huge impact on what is happening. We never deal with the underlying root cause, which regrettably is what are we doing to our natural environment," he said.
Syria's four-year civil war has killed 250,000 people, displaced millions and helped the Islamic State group gain territory.
Charles' interview, broadcast on Monday, was recorded before the terrorist attacks in Paris on Nov. 13, claimed by ISIS, that killed 130 people.
Charles is due to address a global climate conference in Paris next week.