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Environment and Security Policy

Building sustainable peace between and within countries requires the international community to tackle the root causes of conflict. In terms of the environment, this includes managing our natural resources more effectively and halting environmental degradation.

IISD's focus is to provide practical recommendations to decision-makers on how better environmental management could reduce the risk of conflict.

Where to Read More

• From Conflict to Peacebuilding: the role of natural resources and the environment (PDF - 1 mb) » Richard Matthew, Oli Brown, David Jensen, UNEP, February 2009 This major report, co-authored by IISD and UNEP, discusses the key linkages between environment, conflict and peacebuilding, and provides recommendations on how these can be addressed more effectively by the international community.

• 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.

• Addressing Land Ownership after Natural Disasters - An Agency Survey (PDF - 259 kb)» Oli Brown, Alec Crawford, 2006 The final results of a survey of humanitarian professionals which gathered opinions and experiences on how best to tackle issues of land ownership after natural disasters

• 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.

• Growing into risk? Emerging environment and security issues in China (PDF - 265 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.

• Minerals and Conflict: A Toolkit for Programming (PDF - 934 kb)» USAID, Jason Switzer, 2004 This toolkit for development agency practitioners explores how development assistance can address key natural resource-related risks. The minerals toolkit: 1) examines the relationship between valuable minerals and violence; 2) discusses lessons learned in aid programs to deal with "conflict commodities"; 3) presents a range of program options; 4) provides a survey instrument that identifies key questions related to minerals and conflict; and 5) identifies relevant USAID mechanisms and implementing partners.

• State-of-the-Art Review on Environment, Security and Development Cooperation
  Full Report (PDF - 774 kb) - Executive Summary (PDF - 165 kb)
  In 1999, the OECD's Development Assistance Committee turned to the IUCN – World Conservation Union for advice on what development practitioners need to know about the links between environment and security. This state-of-the-art review of research in this field, led by Mark Halle of IISD and drawing upon IUCN's extensive knowledge base, provides a compelling entry into the field of environment and security, and its implications for development practice.

Contents

• Trade, Aid and Security
  An IISD/IUCN research initiative that investigates the impact of the trade and aid policies on security in the developing world.

• ENVSEC
  The ENVSEC Initiative (or Environmental Agenda for Security and Cooperation in South Eastern Europe and Central Asia) was launched in 2002. It brought together IISD, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to promote environmental management as a strategy for reducing insecurity in South Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

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