What in the World Is Worth Fighting for? Using Models for Environmental Security

Abstract

Dramatic human-induced changes occurring in our environment adversely affect the Earth today and, if left unabated, will seriously impact the safety and security of our world in the future. A burgeoning population and its demands for natural resources, renewable and nonrenewable, are leading this assault on the environment. Some consider technology a coconspirator in the degradation of the environment. Certainly, technology has evolved to the point that it can do great harm; conversely, technology can also heal and mitigate. Conceptually, threats to peace and security associated with environmental issues have been collected under the term environmental security. Environmental security is a process for effectively responding to changing environmental conditions that have the potential to reduce peace and stability in the world and thus affect a country’s national security. Accomplishing national environmental security goals requires planning and the execution of programs to prevent and/or mitigate anthropogenic adverse changes in the environment and to minimize the impacts of potential environmental disaster or ecoterrorism (King 2000). The concept of environmental security is not new, particularly for the academic community where the environmental movement began. Many of the eminent scientists who advanced our understanding of the Earth’s environment were also the “doomsayers” (as they were characterized at the time) who predicted catastrophic environmental consequences as a result of uncontrolled human activity. Norman Myers (1986), an early environmental security scholar, expressed the relationship between the environment and world stability well when he wrote,