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Emerging Environment and Security Issues

IISD does work in a number of emerging areas that, by themselves, do not constitute programs of research. That work is grouped together and highlighted here in the hope that it will be of value to those researching issues of environment and security.

• Migration and Climate Change (PDF - 962 kb)
  This short book analyzes the prospect of large-scale forced migration as a result of climate change and attempts to estimate the developmental impact of potentially millions of people displaced by coastal flooding, extreme weather events and agricultural disruption.
  
  It was written for the International Organisation for Migration's Migration Research Series (no.31) and developed from a thematic paper originally written for the 2007/2008 Human Development Report of the UNDP, "Fighting Climate Change: Human Solidarity in a Divided World."
  
  A link to the IOM publications page can be found here.

• Assessing the security implications of climate change for West Africa: Country case studies of Ghana and Burkina Faso
  (PDF - 620 kb)
  Our research in this area investigates the country level impacts of climate change on security in West Africa. The final report sets out scenarios for the future security implications of climate change as well as identifying particular 'flash point' issues that domestic authorities and external actors should bear in mind when designing development programs.

• Climate change as the 'new' security threat: implications for Africa (PDF - 133 kb)
  Once an environmental issue, then an energy problem, climate change is now being recast as a security threat. Africa is particularly vulnerable – with its history of resource, ethnic and interstate conflict. This article for the journal International Affairs charts the dimensions of the climate security challenge in Africa and analyzes the role of adaptation policies in future conflict prevention.

• Zoonotic diseases and human security (coming soon)
  The recent outbreaks of SARS and avian influenza in the Asia-Pacific have pushed zoonotic or animal-borne diseases to the top of public health agendas. Globalization, urbanization and population expansion have undermined environmental sustainability and animal health, creating conditions that leave the health of wildlife, people and domestic animals inextricably linked. This paper examines the socio-economic impacts of zoonotic diseases and argues that greater cooperation between public health professionals, ecologists and veterinary health specialists is needed to address this growing threat to human security. In an effort to promote this integrated, collaborative agenda, IISD was involved in a one-day workshop during the World Conservation Congress in Bangkok called, "Beyond Zoonoses: One World – One Health, The Threat of Emerging Diseases to Human Security and Conservation, and the Implications for Public Policy"

• Climate Change, Resources and Conflict in Sudan (coming soon)
  Sudan has been in a state of civil war for much of the period since independence in 1956. Natural resources have also played a prominent role in triggering and prolonging these civil wars. In 2005, IISD began examining the different links between environment and security in Sudan and how they are—and will continue to be—affected by climate change. Working with the Center for Unconventional Security Affairs (CUSA), Stockholm Environment Institute – Boston Center (SEI-B), and several Sudanese researchers, IISD is developing a project merging conflict and climate research to recommend policy directions that promote environmental sustainability and the nascent peace process.

• Growing into risk? Emerging environment and security issues in China (PDF 258 kb)»  Alec Crawford, Oli Brown, Van Yang, 2006 Serious environmental degradation in China is harming public health, increasing migration and triggering social unrest. In addition, the country's need to secure the supply of those resources which underpin its growth will increase international competition for them while potentially undermining the security of some of the politically fragile, resource-rich nations with which China trades. This paper discusses the security implications of China's growing environmental problems.

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