Environmental security

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The UN defines environmental security as the relative stability of Earth's natural ecosystems against human activity, most notably:

• global climate change caused by human release of greenhouse gas
• deforestation caused by so-called "clearing" of lands
• soil depletion and desertification caused by intensive monoculture techniques

scope statement from UN documents required

In the academic sphere environmental security is defined as the relationship between security concerns such as armed conflict and the natural environment. A small but rapidly developing field, it has become particularly relevant for those studying resource scarcity and conflict in the developing world. Prominent researchers in the field include Thomas Homer Dixon, Geoffrey Dabelko, Ken Conca, and Jared Diamond.

Environmental Security Database [1] United Nations University and Environmental Security

An eco-defender is a person who will intervene to preserve this form of security over any national or cultural definition of security, though not usually over human security. The practice of eco-defenders to threaten life or damage property is sometimes called ecoterror. Much like the "freedom fighter/terrorist" terminology disputes of the Cold War, one man's eco-defender is another man's eco-terrorist and vice versa.

[edit] External links

• The Institute for Environmental Security
• Essay on environmental security by Steve McCormick of The Nature Conservancy
• Environmental Change & Security Program at the Woodrow Wilson Center, directed by Geoffrey Dabelko