Environmental, Resource and Nuclear Issues

Abstract

In their thinking about security, island leaders and commentators have often put strong emphasis on environmental, resource and nuclear issues. In doing so, they often take the high moral ground. They point out how unspoiled Pacific island environments have been damaged, and in some instances devastated, by outsiders. They also express resentment that decisions taken and actions implemented in far distant places, in which Pacific islanders play no part, can have catastrophic implications. Thus massive resource use in rich industrial countries has accentuated global warming; defence priorities in the United States, the United Kingdom and France have resulted in the use and abuse of parts of the region for nuclear and missile testing; and the nuclear and chemical industries in the industrialised countries have been attracted by the possible use of parts of the region for waste dumping.