Environmental Security in the Asia-Pacific Region: Contrasting Problems, Places, and Prospects

Abstract

Other chapters in this volume have explored the diverse terrain of alternative dimensions of security beyond conventional security issues. In this larger landscape, diverse social groups – ranging from the global community (common security) to individuals (human security) – can all be construed as insecure either chronically, or at certain points in time, from various risks. Things that people value – such as sufficient food, economic opportunities, political freedoms, personal safety, environmental services, and good health – can be at risk, and can be seen as sectoral components of (in)security (UNDP 1994). Various processes put at risk the things that people value, including violent conflict, economic fluctuations, persecution, and environmental change. As this book has ably demonstrated, the alternative security agenda is therefore vast and broad. Within this pantheon of issues, places, and processes, this chapter outlines environmental security issues in the Asia-Pacific region. It therefore ‘limits’ itself to one major sectoral component of security – the environment – and one region – Asia-Pacific. It begins by defining what it means by security and environmental security (72.2), which is then followed by a brief background to the Asia-Pacific region (72.3). Next, the chapter reviews some of the major environmental security issues in the region (72.4). It then discusses two key case studies of environmental insecurity in the region which relate to both the smallest atoll countries of Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Tokelau and Tuvalu (72.5), and China as the largest country in the region (72.6). These two cases provide a useful contrast and reveal much about the diverse nature of environmental insecurity in the region (72.7). The chapter concludes that environmental insecurity in the region is caused by economic rather than demographic changes (72.8). 72.2 Security and the Environment