scholarly journals Comprehensive Security: The Opportunities and Challenges of Incorporating Environmental Threats in Security Policy

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 91-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helmi Räisänen ◽  
Emma Hakala ◽  
Jussi T. Eronen ◽  
Janne I. Hukkinen ◽  
Mikko J. Virtanen
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Environmental Security ◽  
Security Threats ◽  
Security Model ◽  
Environmental Threats ◽  
Vital Functions ◽  
Wide Range

In security and foreign policy discourse, environmental issues have been discussed increasingly as security threats that require immediate action. Yet, as the traditional security sector does not provide straightforward means to deal with climate change and other environmental issues, this has prompted concerns over undue securitisation and ill-placed extreme measures. We argue that an effective policy to address foreseeable environmental security threats can only be developed and maintained by ensuring that it remains resolutely within the domain of civil society. In this article, we consider the case of Finland, where the policy concept of comprehensive security has been presented as the official guideline for security and preparedness activities in different sectors. Comprehensive security aims to safeguard the vital functions of society through cooperation between authorities, business operators, organisations, and citizens. We analyse the opportunities and challenges of Finland’s comprehensive security policy in addressing environmental changes through a three-level framework of local, geopolitical and structural security impacts. Our empirical evidence is based on a set of expert interviews (n = 40) that represent a wide range of fields relevant to unconventional security issues. We find that the Finnish comprehensive security model provides an example of a wide and inclusive perspective to security which would allow for taking into account environmental security concerns. However, due to major challenges in the implementation of the model, it does not fully incorporate the long-term, cross-sectoral, and cascading aspects of environmental threats. This weakens Finland’s preparedness against climate change which currently poses some of the most urgent environmental security problems.

An analysis of major environmental threats to human security in Nepal

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-139
Author(s):  
Naresh Bhakta Adhikari
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Human Security ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Environmental Security ◽  
Government Action ◽  
Environmental Threats ◽  
Environmental Threat ◽  
Analytical Research ◽  
The Government

The paper mainly analyses the environmental threats focusing on climate change to human security in Nepal. Major aspects of human security are interlinked and interconnected in our context. Among them, human security offers much to the vibrant field of environmental security in Nepal. Environmental threats are linked to the overall impact on human survival, well-being, and productivity. A great deal of human security is tied to peoples’ access to natural resources and vulnerabilities to environmental change. The major environmental threats in our context is the climate change which have widespread implications for Nepal, causing impacts to water availability, agricultural production, forestry, among many other detrimental effects. The critical threat of environmental security needs to be taken into serious consideration to save our succeeding generation. This article primarily interpreted the government action towards emerging environmental threat based on realist approach. For the study of theme of this article, descriptive and analytical research has been used to draw present major environmental threats in Nepal. With consideration to factors, this article attempted to identify the major environmentally vulnerable areas that are likely to hamper the overall status of human security in Nepal. This paper also tried to suggest the measures to enhance the environmental security considering prospects and policy focusing on Nepalese diverse aspects.

In Search of Sustainability

2005 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Urban Design ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Economic Systems ◽  
Sustainable Society ◽  
Natural Ecosystems ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Key Issues

What must we do to achieve a sustainable society? There is no one answer. The first steps towards sustainability cover a whole spectrum of economic, social and environmental issues. In this volume Australian leaders from a wide range of fields discuss the key issues we must address if we are to move towards a more just and sustainable future. They identify the major concerns and challenges for achieving sustainability in the areas of: human health, water resources, land use and natural ecosystems, energy, equity and peace, economic systems, climate change, labour forces and work, urban design and transport, and population. Achieving sustainability will require major changes in our current approaches. The thought-provoking chapters in this book provide a solid introduction to the issues in the search for a genuine path to sustainability.

Environmental Security and Climate Change

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Dalby
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Change ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Growth Failure ◽  
Environmental Security ◽  
Peace Building ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Fragile States ◽  
Earth System ◽  
The Earth

Environmental security focuses on the ecological conditions necessary for sustainable development. It encompasses discussions of the relationships between environmental change and conflict as well as the larger global policy issues linking resources and international relations to the necessity for doing both development and security differently. Climate change has become an increasingly important part of the discussion as its consequences have become increasingly clear. What is not at all clear is in what circumstances climate change may turn out to be threat multiplier leading to conflict. Earth system science findings and the recognition of the scale of human transformations of nature in what is understood in the 21st century to be a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene, now require environmental security to be thought of in terms of preventing the worst dangers of fragile states being unable to cope with the stresses caused by rapid environmental change or perhaps the economic disruptions caused by necessary transitions to a post fossil fueled economic system. But so far, at least, this focus on avoiding the worst consequences of future climate change has not displaced traditional policies of energy security that primarily ensure supplies of fossil fuels to power economic growth. Failure to make this transition will lead to further rapid disruptions of climate and add impetus to proposals to artificially intervene in the earth system using geoengineering techniques, which might in turn generate further conflicts from states with different interests in how the earth system is shaped in future. While the Paris Agreement on Climate Change recognized the urgency of tackling climate change, the topic has not become security policy priority for most states, nor yet for the United Nations, despite numerous policy efforts to securitize climate change and instigate emergency responses to deal with the issue. More optimistic interpretations of the future suggest possibilities of using environmental actions to facilitate peace building and a more constructive approach to shaping earth’s future.

Environmental Security: Policy within a Violent Imaginary

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes Stripple
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Environmental Security ◽  
Think Tanks ◽  
Environmental Organizations ◽  
Military Establishment ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The Military

The environment is now well established as part of an imagery of a world that is becoming more violent, more conflict ridden and less secure for many people. Imaginations of a climate changed world feed into a horizon of the future that is increasingly understood as indeterminate and uncertain, thereby requiring new modes of preparedness and precaution. While writings on security and the environment existed before the 1990s, it was the end of the Cold War that unlocked and energized the nexus. Environmental security remains an ambiguous concept with many fault-lines among and within academia, think-tanks, environmental organizations and the military establishment. Much scholarship has been preoccupied with the question of how to best define environmental security, but security needs to be recognized as a mode of governing that does things, and that needs to be approached in terms of its effects. Hence, the question: what kind of new political practices become legitimized when climate change is increasingly governed as an emergency?

scholarly journals Three Decades of Behavioural Economics in Agriculture. An Overview of Global Research

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (18) ◽  
pp. 10244
Author(s):  
Ernesto Mesa-Vázquez ◽  
Juan F. Velasco-Muñoz ◽  
José A. Aznar-Sánchez ◽  
Belén López-Felices
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Bibliometric Analysis ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Behavioural Economics ◽  
Value Chains ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The World ◽  
Food Value

Over the last three decades, behavioural economics has been gaining ground in the research on a wide range of agriculture-related themes. This is due to the diversity of the agents involved in the production systems and the agro-food value chains in which opposing interests must be reconciled. The main objective of this study is to examine the dynamics of the research on the application of behavioural economics in agriculture across the world. To do this, a bibliometric analysis has been carried out through a literature review of the period between 1991 and 2020. The results of the study show that the use of behavioural economics has increased in the research on agriculture, particularly over the last five years. The application of behavioural economics in agriculture has focused on analysing consumers, producers, management, marketing, development, environmental issues, climate change, food and health.

scholarly journals AN ASSESSMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY PERFORMANCE OF TURKEY IN 2020

2021 ◽  
pp. 10-21
Author(s):  
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Murat Necip ARMAN
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Performance Index ◽  
Environmental Performance ◽  
Environmental Problem ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Environmental Security ◽  
International Treaties ◽  
Environmental Performance Index ◽  
Climate Policies ◽  
Paris Climate Agreement

Abstract The performance of Turkey in 2020 in terms of environmental security is examined in this study. Despite Turkey’s adoption of many international treaties about environmental issues, it is concluded that Turkey’s environmental performance in 2020 was very low. The research uses the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) and the Combating Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) to access environmental security assessments. With the above results, it has been indicated that ecosystem vitality, biodiversity and habitat, 􀏐isheries, ef􀏐icient use of energy, and climate policies are the areas where the country performs the least. To add, The Ministry of Environment and Urbanization of Turkey has underlined that water pollution is the most important environmental problem in Turkey. Moreover, the fact that Turkey is one of seven countries that have not rati􀏐ied the Paris Climate Agreement is determined as a major issue of environmental security. Keywords: Human security, environmental security, Paris Climate Agreement, Environmental Performance Index (EPI), Combating Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI).

scholarly journals Participatory mapping and collaborative action for inclusive and sustainable mountain landscape development in Far West Nepal

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prakash Khadka ◽  
Wei Liu ◽  
Binod Prasad Parajuli ◽  
Uttam Pudasaini
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Landscape Planning ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Development Planning ◽  
Spatial Knowledge ◽  
Participatory Mapping ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Development Plans ◽  
Mapping Techniques

<p>Nepal is one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to the impacts of climate change due to its high-relief topography, heavy monsoon rainfall, and weak governance. Landslides are common across almost all Nepal’s vast Himalaya mountains, of which the Far Western region suffers most, and climate change, coupled with severe under-development is expected to exacerbate the situation. Deficiency in spatial data and information seriously hinder the design and effective implementation of development plans, especially in the least developed areas, such as Seti River Basin in Far Western Nepal, where landslides constantly devastate landscapes and communities. We adopted a participatory mapping process with emerging collaborative digital mapping techniques to tackle the problem of critical information gaps, especially spatial risk information at local levels which compromise efforts for sustainable landscape planning and uses in disaster prone regions. In short, participatory here refers to working with local stakeholders and collaborative refers to crowdsourced map information with citizens and professionals. Engaging a wide range of stakeholders and non-stakeholder citizens in this integrated mapping processes eventually structure human capital at local scales with skills and knowledge on maps and mapping techniques. Also, this approach increases spatial knowledge and their uses in development planning at the local level and eventually increases landscape resilience through improved information management. We will further discuss how this integrated approach may provide an effective link between planning, designing, and implementing development plans amid fast policy and environmental changes and implications for communities in the developing world, especially in the context of climate change and its cascading effects.</p>

Defining and Distinguishing Homeland from National Security and Climate-Related Environmental Security, in Theory and Practice

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Terrence M. O’Sullivan ◽  
Jim Ramsay
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Emergency Management ◽  
National Security ◽  
Homeland Security ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Resource Competition ◽  
Environmental Security ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Climate Change Effects ◽  
Policy And Strategy

AbstractThe worsening effects of human-caused climate change, as well as issues most American view as “homeland security” (HS) can be seen in the news almost every day. Yet most in the general public and even many in security-related fields do not connect the two arenas, even though climate change, and interrelated resource competition and conflicts that together make up the growing field of environmental security (ES), are increasingly important risk and response variables for homeland security and emergency management. Current climate change effects are already destructive and volatile, but the future projected impacts are likely to be severe and costly to the economic, political, and social health of many nations as well as to a large proportion of the world’s population. The focus of this paper is to describe and connect the evolving concepts of environmental security, homeland security, and national security (NS). Definitions and missions for each concept are discussed, consistent with current, even if contested, practice and theory. Better comparative analysis of these unique but intimately connected realms will help advance the development of more comprehensive and sustainable security policy and strategy.

Adaptation options to reduce climate change vulnerability of sustainable forest management in the Austrian Alps

2011 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 694-706 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rupert Seidl ◽  
Werner Rammer ◽  
Manfred J. Lexer
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Forest Management ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Mixed Stands ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Adaptation Options

Sustaining forest ecosystem functions and services under climate change is a major challenge for forest management. While conceptual advances of adapting coupled social–ecological systems to environmental changes have been made recently, good practice examples at the operational level still remain rare. The current study presents the development of adaptation options for 164 550 ha of commercial forests under the stewardship of the Austrian Federal Forests (AFF). We used a comprehensive vulnerability assessment as analysis framework, employing ecosystem modeling and multicriteria decision analysis in a participatory approach with forest planers of the AFF. An assessment of the vulnerability of multiple ecosystem goods and services under current management served as the starting point for the development of adaptation options. Measures found to successfully reduce vulnerability include the promotion of mixed stands of species well adapted to emerging environmental conditions, silvicultural techniques fostering complexity, and increased management intensity. Assessment results for a wide range of site and stand conditions, stand treatment programs, and future climate scenarios were used to condense robust recommendations for adapting the management guidelines currently used by AFF practitioners. Overall, our results highlight the importance of timely adaptation to sustain forest goods and services and document the respective potential of silvicultural measures.

scholarly journals Neoliberalism and the Environment: Are We Aware Of Appropriate Action to Save the Planet and Do We Think We Are Doing Enough?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellie-Anne Jones ◽  
Rick Stafford
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Government Intervention ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Lifestyle Changes ◽  
Habitat Destruction ◽  
Plastic Pollution ◽  
Environmental Threats ◽  
The Uk

We currently face several, interlinked environmental crises, including climate change, habitat destruction and biodiversity loss. However, many governments seem unwilling to take strong and immediate action to address these threats, preferring to promote neoliberal approaches to allow consumers and the general public to make environmentally friendly choices. This is despite neoliberal approaches being much less likely to be successful than government leadership, taxation, subsidies, and legislation in addressing environmental issues. In this study, we examine public perception of environmental threats and solutions to these threats, in a survey, mainly completed in the UK. Climate change is seen as the biggest issue, likely due to recent activist campaigns and subsequent media attention on the issue. Neoliberal attitudes, such as green consumer choices to environmental concerns, do still dominate in a series of possible presented solutions, and score more highly than lifestyle changes such as changing diet. However, when questioned specifically about plastic pollution, government intervention to ban all unnecessary plastic scored very strongly, indicating a shift from a consumer driven response. Furthermore, most participants think they are at best only partly ‘doing their bit’ to protect the environment. The results demonstrate that the public are aware that not enough is happening to protect the environment and provide evidence that there is willingness for stronger government intervention to address environmental issues, although there is potential resistance to major lifestyle changes.

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