Six Ways to Mainstream the Environment in Peace and Security

May 26, 2021 | Doug Weir
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With humanity facing the triple crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, we can no longer dismiss the environment as somehow irrelevant to peace and human security. These three threats are undermining the ecological systems that support our societies. Without a mainstreaming agenda for the environment that acknowledges this, we risk exacerbating the environmental drivers of vulnerability and insecurity, permitting unacceptable environmental harm during conflicts, and missing opportunities to build sustainable peace.

Understanding and awareness of the environmental dimensions of conflicts and crises have grown exponentially in the last two decades. Environmental concerns have risen up the political agenda and we have become better at articulating the relationship between environmental change and its consequences for people. This is all to the good, but we now face the more difficult challenge of tackling that relationship with effective policy-making.

Unfortunately, some still view environmental concerns as distinct from humanitarian considerations, a luxury issue to be dealt with once the immediate crisis has passed. Part of the problem is how we have framed and conceptualised the fields we work in. For example, whether it’s water quality and availability, or zoonotic or vector borne disease, WASH is an environmental issue. Similarly, it is  a healthy environment that provides food security, and underpins rural livelihoods. 

This is all perfectly understandable of course. The environment is by its nature all encompassing and difficult to define. We need to break it down into manageable components, something we typically do using anthropocentric frames. But by focusing on those frames, to the exclusion of the bigger picture, are we undermining the importance of the environment as a whole, and in turn setting up the conditions for its under-prioritisation?