A Lot of Talk, But Little Action—The Blind Spots of Nordic Environmental Security Policy

Emma Hakala,Tero Toivanen,Antti Majava,Jussi T Eronen,Tere Vadén,Paavo Järvensivu,Ville Lähde

doi:10.3390/su11082379

Emma Hakala, Tero Toivanen + Show 5 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su11082379

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Abstract

Despite an increasing recognition that environmental change may have implications for security, there only are few policies to address the issue. This article will look at environmental security policies in Finland and Sweden and propose ways to develop more effective measures. It relies on a three-level framework that aims to enable the identification of environmental security impacts by categorising them into local, geopolitical and structural ones. The article will examine present environmental security strategies and policies in Finland and Sweden, consider their efficacy for addressing various kinds of impacts and point out approaches that are currently missing. Based on the discussion, it argues that a comprehensive policy approach is needed to tackle environmental security impacts. This requires closer coordination and interchange between sectors as well as strategic intent. In addition, further research is needed on the structural impacts of mitigating and adapting to environmental change.

Highlights

In recent years, environmental issues have become an increasingly established part of security and foreign policy discourse [1,2,3]
Based on our categorisation of three different kinds of security impacts of environmental change, presented in another article [16], we argue that environmental security should involve a broad range of sectors
Current policies almost entirely neglect the security consequences of mitigating environmental change and adapting to it. We argue that this category, which we call the structural impacts, is increasingly important as climate change and the policies to counter it advance

Summary

Introduction

Environmental issues have become an increasingly established part of security and foreign policy discourse [1,2,3]. Most of the impact and concrete discussion on environmental security has focused on climate induced conflicts [9,10] and their linkages to questions such as water and food [11,12]. Other major topics have been climate impacts on critical infrastructure [13], national security [14] and increased violence [15]. These themes have played to the hands of the hard security community, giving armies and security forces the central role and initiative in the policy discourse on environmental security

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