Elements of a Planetary Emergency: Environment of Peace (Part 1)
Publisher: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
Author(s): Dan Smith
Date: 2022
Topics: Climate Change, Conflict Causes, Conflict Prevention, Governance, Peace and Security Operations, Public Health, Renewable Resources
SIPRI’s Environment of Peace initiative focuses on managing the risks that are created by two interwoven crises: the darkening security horizon and the immense pressures being placed on the natural world and the systems that support life on earth.
This part—Elements of a Planetary Emergency (part 1)—lays out the conceptual and evidential landscape for Environment of Peace. Led by Dan Smith, SIPRI Director, it brings together data on a wide range of indicators, showing that both security and environmental stresses are increasing. These include markers of decline in the natural environment: pollution, climate change, species loss and associated issues. On the security side, part 1 provides data on both ‘hard’ security questions (such as militarization, the collapse of international arms controls and military spending) and on ‘human’ security concerns (such as hunger and development). It considers the failures of governance to address these pressing crises and argues that the health of the global biosphere should be recognized as a core national security interest.