Environmental security: Concept and implementation

Environmental security, a relatively new and still somewhat contentious concept, may be defined as the intersection of environmental and national security considerations at a national policy level. It may be understood as a result of several important trends. One, of course, is the breakdown of the bipolar geopolitical structure that characterized the cold war. A second, less visible to many in the policy community, is the shift of environment from compliance and remediation to strategic for society. This process is occurring at many different scales, from implementation of Design for Environment methodologies within firms, to integration of environmental and trade considerations in the World Trade Organization (WTO). Taken together, these trends suggest that environmental security may be an important evolution of national state and international policy systems. If this is to occur, however, the concept must be defined with sufficient rigor to support an operational program.