Environmental Security

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There are various interpretations of environmental security, depending on how the environment and security are themselves understood. The concept is the product of the environmental movement and the changed strategic landscape at the end of the Cold War. The most important interpretations of the concept concern the ways in which environmental change puts national security at risk, the ways in which it may be a factor in violent conflicts, and the ways in which environmental change puts human security at risk. Environmental change is arguably a national security issue for many countries, albeit a radically different one from the conventional security problem of armed invasion. It is a minor factor in the generation of violent conflicts. Through changes in the distribution and quality of resources upon which the world's poor depend, it is also a human security issue. For the most part, environmental security is largely understood to be about threats to the nation-state rather than to the environment per se, to other states, or to individuals.

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