Wg I — Security Implications of Unsustainable Water Management and Land Use

Participants addressed the severity of water shortage and land degradation in their respective countries, commended themselves for the actions taken by their countries to respond to water shortage and land degradation problems, and (in the case of developing countries), made a plea for support, with implications of support that is financial. The need to better understand the difference between “environmental degradation” and loss of “environmental security” was highlighted.

The Conceptual Framework of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment was presented, in which soil conservation, land productivity and water resource provision and regulation are viewed as ecosystem services, which provide for “Human Well-Being”, whose major component is “security”, meaning personal safety, secure resource access and security from disasters. Desertification and land degradation can therefore be viewed as failure of ecosystems to provide the above services. This failure is driven by direct drivers (biophysical) such as soil erosion and salinisation, water pollution, etc. which in turn are driven by indirect drivers (social, economic, demographic, political, governance, etc.). The latter interact with human well-being. Namely, economic and social factors determine human well-being, including security, but human well-being also affects social structure, policy and governance state, which in their turn result in over-use of resources (direct drivers), causing desertification and land degradation.