Key Message
Environmental degradation and the mismanagement of natural resources can fuel conflict between and within states, contribute to poverty and state failure, and leave communities more vulnerable to disasters.
At the same time, environmental issues can provide an opportunity to foster dialogue and cooperation over shared interests, reducing tensions between conflicting parties.
Environment and Security (E&S)
What's New in Environment and Security?
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Climate change and forced migration: Observations, projections and implications » Oli Brown, 2007 This paper was written as a thematic paper for the 2007/2008 Human Development Report of the UNDP, "Fighting Climate Change: Human Solidarity in a Divided World." The paper analyzes the prospect of large-scale forced migration as a result of climate change and the consequences for the development of potentially millions of people displaced by coastal flooding, extreme weather events and agricultural disruption.
IISD believes that the mismanagement of our natural resources lies at the heart of many conflicts and disaster vulnerability.
Sustainable development is impossible without security. Yet since the end of the Cold War, violent conflict has killed or displaced millions of people. Meanwhile, the frequency and toll of natural disasters is on the rise, driven in part by an unpredictable and changing global climate.
It is clear that a better understanding of the links between environmental change and human security is vital for effective peace-building and post-conflict reconstruction. Conflict-sensitive conservation could both protect biodiversity and contribute to peace-building. Better environmental management may help reduce community vulnerability to floods and droughts. IISD's work seeks to understand these links and provide practical advice on how careful management of our environment and our resources can contribute to conflict avoidance and disaster resilience.
Where to Read More
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The Environment and our Security: How our understanding of the links has changed (PDF - 179 kb)
On May 9, 2005, IISD's Oli Brown gave a presentation at a conference on "Environment, Peace and the Dialogue between Civilizations" in Tehran, Iran. His paper charts our evolving understanding of the complex relationship between environmental change and security since the Stockholm conference in 1972, and makes some suggestions for practical policies that can ensure that environmental management is supportive of peace and sustainable development.
Contents
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Conservation and Conflict
IISD has been working with conservation and development partners around the world in an effort to better understand the links between conservation and conflict, and to offer practical recommendations to conservationists faced with conflict. -
Disaster Resilience
IISD's work in this area focuses on the ways in which communities can become more resilient to natural hazards like earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis. -
Natural Resources, Livelihoods and Security
IISD has been examining how access to and management of natural resources affect livelihoods and how this, in turn, contributes to conflict and/or peace. -
Environment and Security Policy
IISD has been providing practical recommendations to decision-makers on how better environmental management could reduce the risk of conflict. -
Emerging Environment and Security Issues
IISD does work in a number of emerging areas that, by themselves, do not constitute programs of research. These include zoonotic diseases, climate change in Sudan and emerging environment and security issues in China.
Key Publication
Trade, Aid and Security: An agenda for peace and development
» Oli Brown, Mark Halle, Sonia Peña Moreno, Sebastian Winkler, Earthscan, 2006.Iraq, Afghanistan, Darfur. All resonate loudly on the international stage, exposing and illustrating the intractable links among global security, war and conflict, the control over natural resources—be they oil, water, timber or "conflict diamonds"—and the deployment of aid money and the manipulation of international trade policies. This volume, written by leading authorities from across the globe, introduces the linkages among trade, aid and security, and exposes how inappropriate or misused trade and aid policies can and do undermine security and contribute to violence and the disintegration of nation states. On a practical level, they demonstrate how six key areas of trade and aid policy can be used to help forge stability and security, reduce the likelihood of armed conflict and assist economic and political recovery in our war-torn world. Foreword by Lloyd Axworthy. More...
Our Knowledge
» Themes
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