Environment and Security on the International Agenda: Challenges for Environmental Policy

The concept of ‘environment and security’ has gained in importance on the international policy agenda since the end of the Cold War. Numerous international and regional organizations as well as national governments have responded to the environment and security debate with a diverse array of approaches. In particular, the need to manage environmental stress and its consequences for security has also been acknowledged by the principal European security organizations, including the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.Since the beginning of the 1990s, global environmental problems have placed a strong emphasis on sound foreign and security policy and also development policy in relation to crisis prevention. As environmental degradation and resource scarcity have the potential to contribute to violent conflict, more effective preventative policies and measures are needed. Since most of the environmental conflicts primarily occur in the developing world, results from global environmental change thus call for a shared responsibility on part of the global community. This includes integrating environmental concerns into the various policy sectors that could ensure that environmental protection and sustainable development would become an effective tool for conflict prevention.