Why putting the environment first makes all our lives more secure 

By United Nations Environment programme executive director Erik Solheim

EXCLUSIVE – this article was first published in the September issue of The Environment magazine.

International security is central to international politics. During the Cold War, US-Soviet relations shaped world security and insecurity. Under the shadow of the bomb, few regions escaped devastating proxy wars.

Since then, achieving global peace and security – central to the United Nations’ work – has become far more complex. It’s no longer a simple playing field of two teams. Traditional post-World War II mediation mechanisms are no longer fit for purpose. This forces us to rethink security from the ground up.

Our understanding of what drives conflict has also changed, as we grapple with new crises. One change concerns the environment. We have now grasped that, far from being a niche issue, the environment is central to global security – as a threat multiplier and a tool for peace.

That relationship can be clear. Our work to restore southern Iraq’s Mesopotamian marshes – home to one of the Middle East’s biggest environmental catastrophes – is a force for wider regional post-war recovery.

In parts of the recently liberated north, Iraq officials are trying to reverse Daesh scorched-earth policies that left the skies black with burning oil and poisoned cities and rivers.

But we need to go further to integrate environmental questions into the international security framework, to reshape the security narrative and its mechanisms.

Countries need practical tools and new, solid and well-grounded policies to implement their environmental commitments despite mounting external threats.

There are parallels between today’s political situation and the experiences of science in the early 20th century, when discoveries in nuclear physics contradicted classical theory. Those discoveries demanded new, extraordinary ideas to solve those contradictions. One of those physicists, Niels Bohr, said that a theory must be crazy enough to be true.

Focusing on the environment to solve global and regional security issues might just be that crazy theory. Helping Somalia to adapt to more frequent, intense droughts that create a cycle of environmental degradation may well be key to lasting peace.

Erik Solheim is programme executive director of United Nations Environment

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