Abstract
The premise of discourse theory in environmental policy is that realities are shaped by language. One discourse that is gaining popularity is the concept of environmental security, a discourse that presupposes environmental threats as urgent. The attempt to cast environmental issues as security issues has resulted in the common use of security jargon, idioms, and metaphors in policymakers’ and politicians’ statements. Various analyses attempt to identify why natural resources are discussed in terms and language of security. However, far fewer studies have attempted to identify differences in the manner in which different types of resources are incorporated into such a discourse by different actors and what variables contribute to this process. This study examines the construction of the security references, security arguments, and language in the statements of the Commission on Sustainable Development dealing with energy and water. We found that international organizations and Non-governmental Organizations were somewhat more likely than state actors to use security references to discuss sustainability issues. The issues securitized are not the traditional high political ones such as regime stability and conflicts, but rather issues more associated with human security, such as access to renewable energy, affordable food, and clean water. The fact that in many statements examined the use of security references was not associated with any existential threat and hence did not comply with the conditions of the Copenhagen School raises some doubts as to whether security language in these statements implies a true securitization move. We also examined whether the use of the term “security” by states was correlated with greater resource scarcity or vulnerability. In the case of water-related sessions, the evidence was mixed, depending on the choice of dependent variable. The results from energy security regressions, however, were inconsistent with the hypothesis that greater scarcity or vulnerability induces more use of security language.
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Notes
While there are debates as to the distinction (and even the veracity and utility of such a distinction between state and human security (Chandler 2008)), in this study state-centered references were defined as those directly referencing either the state or state agencies as the primary object of analysis and/or beneficiary or party at risk. Human-centered references were those that primarily referenced individual or community welfare as its central concern, without reference to the integrity of state mechanisms or territory. Thus, for example, references to regional balance of power or critical national infrastructure were considered state-centered, while those advocating for increases in access to clean water or electrification of villages were considered human-centered. For more on this distinction in environmental discourse analysis, see Detraz and Betsill (2009).
As measured by a binary variable indicating whether or not the party used the term “security” at least once.
As measured by the number of statements issued that used the term “security” at least once, normalized by number of statements issued.
As measured by the total number of references to the term “security,” normalized by percentage of statements issued.
The respective percentages for water sessions were 42 and 49 %, respectively, while for the energy sessions they were 29 and 38 %.
Statement submitted by Germany, April 28, 2004, to the CSD12. One of the only other references to violent conflict over scarce resources was another very general statement made by a representative of International Federation of Agricultural Producers, who also gave a general warning claiming that [w]ater security in some parts could lead to conflicts and water wars” Statement submitted on behalf of the Farmers Group on 3 May 2006 to CSD14.
Statement submitted by Fiji to the United Nations April 30, 2004, to the CSD12.
Statement submitted by Indonesia on May 1, 2007, to CSD15.
Statement submitted by Antigua and Barbuda on April 20, 2005, to CSD13.
Statement submitted by the World Meteorological Organization on May 11, 2006, to CSD14.
Evaluation of the effectiveness of such types of statements is beyond the scope of this study.
Statement of Norway submitted February 28, 2007, to CSD 15.
The Copenhagen School identifies “a discourse that takes the form of presenting something as an existential threat to a referent object” as a securitizing move, which becomes completely “securitized only if and when the audience accepts it as such” (Buzan et al. 1998).
Abbreviations
- CSD:
-
Commission for Sustainable Development
- GDP:
-
Gross Domestic Product
- NGOs:
-
Non-Governmental Organizations
- UN:
-
United Nations
- UNDP:
-
United Nations Development Programme
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to convey their appreciation to the EU Seventh Framework Programme that funded the Climate Change, Hydro-conflicts and Human Security (CLICO) project that made this project possible. We would like also to thank Daniel Natan for research assistance and for exposing us to some of the securitization literature discussed in this article.
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Appendix
Appendix
1.1 Regression equations
where
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Security = a binary variable, measuring whether or not the state referenced security in its statement
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Securitynumber = a limited ordered categorical dependent variable, the categories of which represent the number of security references per state. The four categories used were 0, 1, 2–3, 4, or more.
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Securitavg = the average number of security references per statement per state.
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X = A vector of various indicators frequently used by researchers to evaluate water and energy security. They include both resource specific variables (e.g., resource reserves) and variables that are meant to evaluate other possible measures of adaptive capacity (e.g., per capita income). The specific indicators used differed between models. A full list of the variables used is provided in Table 4 below.
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α and β = parameters to be measured
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ε = error term
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The subscript i refers to the state used as the unit of observation
Logistic regressions were performed with Eq. (1). Ordered logistic regressions were performed with Eq. (2). And Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regressions were performed with Eq. (3). The independent explanatory variables used for the water and energy regressions are given in Table 4 in the Appendix.
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Fischhendler, I., Katz, D. The use of “security” jargon in sustainable development discourse: evidence from UN Commission on Sustainable Development. Int Environ Agreements 13, 321–342 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10784-012-9192-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10784-012-9192-z