Abstract
The evolution of the global strategic situation following the Cold War suggests the need to expand the definition of national security to include environmental threats to stability. Environmental security refers to a range of security issues triggered or intensified by environmental factors such as climate change, resources, demographic factors, natural disasters, environmental change, and non-sustainable practices. Environmental stress has the potential to destabilize states, but especially in the developing world because they are characteristically more dependent on the environment for economic productivity and they lack the resiliency to overcome these challenges. This chapter does not suggest that environmental stress––alone––causes warfare. To be more precise, it can potentially trigger violent conflict in unique situations of extreme civil instability and within failing states. The problem that we face today is that the number of failing states is growing, and they are more vulnerable to instability caused by environmental stress because they suffer from four causally related effects: (1) reduced agricultural production; (2) economic decline; (3) population displacement; and (4) civil disruption. These effects determine the vulnerability and adaptability of a society.
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Galgano, F.A. (2019). The Environment–Conflict Nexus. In: Galgano, F. (eds) The Environment-Conflict Nexus. Advances in Military Geosciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90975-2_1
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