Climate change is seen by more countries as a top international threat, but many also name ISIS and cyberattacks as their top security concern, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center conducted among 27,612 respondents in 26 countries from May 14 to Aug. 12, 2018.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report last year expressing serious concerns about the possible impacts of climate change, both in the near and distant future. Broadly speaking, people around the world agree that climate change poses a severe risk to their countries. Since 2013, worries about the climate threat have increased significantly. The biggest increases have been in France (up 29 percentage points) and Mexico (up 28 points), but there have been double-digit rises in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Spain, Kenya, Canada, South Africa and Poland as well.

But global warming is just one of many concerns. Cyber attacks from other countries is another growing concern. And terrorism, specifically from the Islamic extremist group known as ISIS, remains a threat although the number of countries citing this as their top concern have recently decreased. Substantial double-digit declines among those saying ISIS is a major threat occurred over the past year in Israel (down 16 points), Spain (-13), the U.S. (-12), Greece (-10) and Japan (-10).

In the United States, 74 percent of respondents said cyber attacks from other countries was their top concern, followed by the threat from ISIS at 62 percent, climate change at 59 percent, North Korea’s nuclear program at 58 percent, Russia’s power and influence at 50 percent, China’s power and influence at 48 percent, and the condition of the global economy at 44 percent. It’s possible that these results already differ six months later, reflecting new concerns over Russia and China, and a weakened ISIS. But perhaps the time has come for the current Administration to heed the warnings on climate change – and act, given that other areas of similar concern receive full attention. There are signs in the Republican Party that, as a whole, it is heeding the warnings. Since 2017, the share of Republicans who take a positive view of stricter environmental laws has increased, from 36 percent then to 45 percent today.

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