Abstract
Environmental issues will be examined in this paper with a focus on the critical examination of the extent to which climate change is contributing to violent conflict (and risks of violent conflict) in a region or sub-region. In the attempt to deal with the assumption that supposes the existence of a linkage between the climate change and the increase of conflicts, the development will be composed of two parts. Firstly, several views of authors who wrote on the question will be confronted. Among them, certain authors agreed with the fact that environmental degradation is likely to lead to conflicts. However, the conceptual framework which is needed to analyze this probable linkage is too weak, and the debate on security highlights this situation. Then, the stress will be mainly on the researches of authors who succeed to overtake these limits of the conceptual framework. Among others, Thomas Homer-Dixon and his research team are mentioned. Secondly, the problem of reduction of water in the Middle East, precisely in the Gaza Strip, will be analyzed in order to check if environmental changes are likely to contribute to violence. The aim is to highlight the possible process which leads to violence. However, before analyzing the case of the Gaza Strip, the concept of "environmental scarcity" which is helpful for the analysis will be clarified. In conclusion, an attempt to answer to the research question will be undertaken.
