The Trump administration’s decision to remove emphasis on climate change from the new National Security Strategy represents its latest move away from international action on climate change.

In his speech Donald Trump said he had pulled the US out of “job-killing deals” like the “very expensive and unfair Paris climate accord”.

Mr Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, made the momentous decision to prioritise climate change as part of his security strategy back in 2015. In that document, climate change was described as “an urgent and growing threat to our national security”.

The security threats posed by climate change are many and varied, including everything from global conflicts over resources to the flow of refugees.

Perhaps the best example of a climate-related threat to US security comes from Hurricane Harvey.

10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Show all 10 1 /10 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A group of emperor penguins face a crack in the sea ice, near McMurdo Station, Antarctica Kira Morris 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Floods destroyed eight bridges and ruined crops such as wheat, maize and peas in the Karimabad valley in northern Pakistan, a mountainous region with many glaciers. In many parts of the world, glaciers have been in retreat, creating dangerously large lakes that can cause devastating flooding when the banks break. Climate change can also increase rainfall in some areas, while bringing drought to others. Hira Ali 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Smoke – filled with the carbon that is driving climate change – drifts across a field in Colombia. Sandra Rondon 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Amid a flood in Islampur, Jamalpur, Bangladesh, a woman on a raft searches for somewhere dry to take shelter. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable places in the world to sea level rise, which is expected to make tens of millions of people homeless by 2050. Probal Rashid 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Sindh province in Pakistan has experienced a grim mix of two consequences of climate change. “Because of climate change either we have floods or not enough water to irrigate our crop and feed our animals,” says the photographer. “Picture clearly indicates that the extreme drought makes wide cracks in clay. Crops are very difficult to grow.” Rizwan Dharejo 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Hanna Petursdottir examines a cave inside the Svinafellsjokull glacier in Iceland, which she said had been growing rapidly. Since 2000, the size of glaciers on Iceland has reduced by 12 per cent. Tom Schifanella 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A river once flowed along the depression in the dry earth of this part of Bangladesh, but it has disappeared amid rising temperatures. Abrar Hossain 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A shepherd moves his herd as he looks for green pasture near the village of Sirohi in Rajasthan, northern India. The region has been badly affected by heatwaves and drought, making local people nervous about further predicted increases in temperature. Riddhima Singh Bhati 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A factory in China is shrouded by a haze of air pollution. The World Health Organisation has warned such pollution, much of which is from the fossil fuels that cause climate change, is a “public health emergency”. Leung Ka Wa 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Water levels in reservoirs, like this one in Gers, France, have been getting perilously low in areas across the world affected by drought, forcing authorities to introduce water restrictions. Mahtuf Ikhsan

Last week, two studies confirmed what scientists had long suspected: the effects of Hurricane Harvey were made considerable worse by global warming. Moreover, the likelihood of an event of that magnitude happening in the first place was increased by climate change.

Scientists are increasingly able to attribute characteristics of natural disasters to global warming, and the signs suggest climate change is making such events worse.

But aside from the devastating effects Hurricane Harvey had on the US, climate change is first and foremost a global issue. As with Mr Trump’s absence from this year’s climate talks in Bonn and then Paris, this latest development highlights his unwillingness to engage with multinational efforts to tackle it.

The Trump administration portrays such efforts as “bad deals” for the US that attempt to diminish the US economy and take jobs away from Americans.

This was exemplified by Mr Trump’s dismissal of the Paris climate accord, which he announced his nation’s withdrawal from earlier this year, and which he described as “simply the latest example of Washington entering into an agreement that disadvantages the US, to the exclusive benefit of other countries.”

As one of the world’s biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, and a global power with the ability to set the agenda when it comes to action on climate change, the current absence of the US is being felt keenly by other nations.

With the US government withdrawing funds to deal with climate change, such as the $2bn pledge to the Green Climate Fund, other nations will have to try and step in.

Climate change has no respect for national borders, which is why it is vital the whole world comes together to tackle it.

“Despite Donald Trump’s delusions of being master of the universe, dropping climate change from the list of global threats won’t make it any less of a global threat,” said Greenpeace US spokesperson Travis Nichols.