Securitizing the Environment

The current world activities pose more threat to the environment hence raising the concern of securitizing the environment. Environmental sector security is concerned with the relation between the biosphere and human activities. These threats include the depletion and scarcity of non-renewable and renewable resources, desertification, global warming, depletion of the Ozone, deforestation and persistent organic pollutants. The world should securitize the environment because if degraded it may have long-term consequences affecting the survival of humanity. Securitizing the environment is important because there will be a guarantee that the environment will be safe, or there will be a method or methods of controlling environmental degradation that the majority agrees with. After all, actors are on board the next action is negotiating the best methods to be used and how to ensure that every party cooperates.

Threats that face the environment, for instance, the degradation of ecosystems and the overuse of natural resources challenge the quality of life for the residents around the natural resources or those who depend on them. These threats could lead to an unstable environment that cannot satisfy every person’s needs hence creating an exacerbate violent conflict for the resources. These situations favor the rich and the powerful because they can have means to grab the resources for themselves before the minority hence forcing the minority to fight to the left overs. Environmental degradation should be considered as a security issue because when it extends to armed conflicts because of the scarcity of resources which were misused war may follow. I believe that environmental sector security is the prevention mechanism and those that oppose it are willing to risk everything hoping they can cure the consequences other than preventing them from occurring.