From Resource Scarcity to Ecological Security

Abstract

Review: From Resource Scarcity to Ecological Security Dennis Parages and Ken Cousins (Eds.) Reviewed by Umar Karim Mirza Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Pakistan Dennis Pirages and Ken Cousins (Eds.). From Resource Scarcity to Ecological Security. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2005. 261 pp. ISBN: 0-262-66189-6, US$24, Paper back, Alkaline paper. Dennis Pirages is Harrison Professor of International Environmental Politics at the University of Maryland. He is the author or editor of many books on political and environmental issues and contributed to The Global 2000 Report to the President. entering the twenty-first century . Ken Cousins is a doctoral student at the University of Maryland. The book examines the findings of The Global 2000 Report to the President (released in 1980) and presents an up-to-date overview of critical topics like population, water, food, energy, climate change, deforestation and biodiversity. It looks closely at the environmental trends around the globe today to contemplate the state of the global environment over the next thirty years. It further discusses what can be done now to achieve ecological security. Pirages provides an introduction in the first chapter, followed by chapters that examine population projections (in retrospect and up to the year 2050), the demographic impact of HIV/AIDS and an aging global population that will present the industrialized countries with a decrease in the size of their workforce. Additional essays provide an overview of global freshwater resources, a discussion of international river diplomacy and water sustainability, an examination of the important issue of food security, the current global energy situation and future scenarios, renewable-energy technologies development in the US, and future socioeconomic and political challenges of global climate change. The list of references (numbering about five hundred) is extensive as compared with the size of the book itself. A concise introduction to the contributors follows and the book ends with a relatively short index. Like most policy books, this book is not technical. Where needed, the ideas and concepts have been well supported by data in the form of tables and figures. The book can be a recommended text for graduate students taking courses in environmental policy. In addition, policy makers, politicians, environmentalists and ecologists can equally benefit from this book