The year of the twin crises
JVL Introduction
In this blog, Dan Smith, director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri), links war and environmental breakdown as the twin crises challenging international and national security.
He echoes warnings first voiced in the 1970s, but sees it as an imperative that we shift our priorities for how peace can be achieved and maintained. “Security” can no longer be analysed in isolation from other crucial factors which are traditionally outside its framework.
Placing responsibility for looming catastrophe on the “model of economic development since the industrial revolution… that is essentially predatory upon nature, including predatory on most people”, Smith sees the challenges to peace and security from ecological collapse as of greater significance than political rivalries.
State and national self-interest, understood in conventional terms, are totally inadequate in a world challenged by far-reaching environmental crisis.
Sustainability and cooperation have to move to the forefront if we are to have any chance for achieving security.
The year of the twin crises
Loading article text…
As you say, the interdependence of environmental sustainability and geo-political security is staring us in the face. The issue is the limited perceptions among leaders, both political and corporate, who need to be driving the remedial measures instead of thinking about their short-term advantage.