Report Finds that Russia Securitises the Environment – but on Its Terms

Jan 24, 2021 | Nina Lesikhina and Doug Weir
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International attention on environmental security has increased markedly during the last decade, especially within the UN’s Security Council, General Assembly and its Environment Assembly. Yet in spite of the increasing number of statements and resolutions that have accepted the importance of the environment throughout the cycle of conflicts, a number of states remain reluctant to support measures to address its implications for peace and security. Of these, Russia is perhaps the most vocal.

The authors wanted to understand the roots of this position, and to learn more about Russia’s long-standing objections to the securitisation of the environment in international fora and policy debates. Is it just a case of Russia setting itself in opposition to the often Western governments that have advocated around environmental and climate security in recent years, or are there other reasons behind it?

A new report – How Russia approaches environmental security –  finds that the position seems to be rooted, in part, in the history of environmental governance in Russia, as well as in its domestic perception of environmental security.