Environmental Security and Instrument Choice

Abstract

The present scale of production and consumption is likely to generate adverse externalities (pollution). The dangers posed by pollution infringe on the welfare of countries, depending on the type of environmental problems they face. While research is under way which links environmental degradation to the onset of civil and international war, this chapter shows how economic, technological, and ecological factors influence a country’s environmental security and which instruments can be employed to enhance it. After briefly reviewing the literature on the relationship between environmental degradation and the onset of civil and international conflict, the basic model of environmental regulation in a closed economy is developed; these assumptions are relaxed step by step by introducing transboundary pollution, international trade, and global environmental problems. Furthermore, the instruments for achieving environmental security are systematically derived.