Environmental Security Heats Up as Obama Administration Prepares to Tackle Climate, Energy
DECEMBER 2008—Latest ECSP Report Covers New Security Issues: Environment, Population, and Health
DECEMBER 2008—Latest ECSP Report Covers New Security Issues: Environment, Population, and Health
As the Obama team takes over, the 13th issue of the Environmental Change and Security Program Report details the non-traditional security threats—and opportunities—it faces. "Environmental security is making a comeback," says ECSP Director Geoff Dabelko, "notably in the United States, where signs indicate that the next administration will tackle environment, population, health, and development challenges that impact security." The unprecedented level of interest in climate change's security implications "provides an opportunity to promote new approaches that recognize the links connecting issues and to create integrated programs that address them," says Dabelko in his foreword, "Environmental Security Heats Up."
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In "New Directions in Demographic Security," seven demographic experts analyze the links connecting population and environmental dynamics to conflict:
From Conflict to Peacebuilding: UNEP's Role in Environmental Assessment and Recovery
"If people cannot find clean water for drinking, wood for shelter and energy, or land for crops, what are the chances that peace will be successful and durable? Very slim," says David Jensen of the UN Environment Program (UNEP), who describes UNEP's activities in Afghanistan, Sudan, and other areas of conflict. "UNEP seeks to ensure that countries rebuilding from conflict identify the sustainable use of natural resources as a fundamental prerequisite and guiding principle of their reconstruction and recovery."
Making the Population-Climate Change Connection: An Ethical Argument
As interest in the relationship between global population growth and climate change grows, Suzanne Petroni calls for "a thoughtful and deliberative dialogue around voluntary family planning's contribution to mitigating climate change," which could "increase awareness not only of the outsized contribution of developed nations to global emissions, but also of their appropriate role in the global community."
Navigating Peace: Trends in Water Conflict and Cooperation
Although water rarely leads to wars between countries, it frequently contributes to local-level conflict. Four policy briefs commissioned by the Navigating Peace Initiative identify current and emerging trends in water conflict and cooperation across the world, including the Nile Basin and southern Africa.
The Best of the Beat: Selections From the Award-Winning New Security Beat Blog
Read some of the best blog posts from the New Security Beat's first year. Georgetown University's Colin Kahl analyzes Kenya's history of demographically and environmentally induced ethnic land strife, while ECSP Director Geoff Dabelko offers a word of caution on "climate change refugees."
A Bushel of Book Reviews
Leaf through expert reviews of 20 recent books and reports at the nexus of population, environment, and security, including The Greening of the U.S. Military, Return of the Population Growth Factor, and Peace Parks: Conservation and Conflict Resolution.
On the Record at the Wilson Center
"On the Record," a compendium of quotations from the past year of ECSP meetings, features many candid assessments of global environmental, population, and security issues. For example, Emmanuel Mtiti of the Jane Goodall Institute told a Wilson Center audience that rural Tanzanians "need to cut trees for charcoal, and once they sell charcoal they get school fees, or they buy their food or they buy their medicines. Now, if you tell them, ‘Don't cut trees,' then what next? It's like telling Americans ‘don't drive.'"
The Environmental Change and Security Program (ECSP) explores the connections between environmental change, health, and population dynamics and their links to conflict, human insecurity, and foreign policy. Read more