Why Security Should Matter to IUCN

Why Security Should Matter to IUCN

Description

Both the wise use and degradation of the environment result from the interaction between humans and nature. As such, achieving the mission of IUCN hinges not only on the science of biodiversity, but on social, cultural, and economic insight and action. Indeed this is the very rationale for the existence of the Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy.

High on today’s political agenda is the issue of security. Yet the reordering of the security architecture in the wake of September 11, events in Central Asia and the Middle East, should not be left in the hands of military specialists, political scientists, and political leaders. Achieving security is a fundamental problem for the millions of people today who lack access to safe drinking water, who are forced to flee their homes at gunpoint, who are living on marginal lands, coastal zones and floodplains.

Development, poverty alleviation and sustainable management of the environment ultimately depend on social stability and peace.

Information

Author(s)
Mark Halle
Publisher
IUCN - World Conservation Union
Place published
Geneva
Date / journal vol no.
in “Environment & Security: Why Nature is a Matter of Survival”, Policy Matters, Newsletter of the IUCN Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy, Issue No. 9, May 2002
Pages
Page 4

References