Among those groups who have developed a keen interest in understanding the cohesive
connections between environmental change, security and conflict is the conservation community.
Among the reasons for this interest are:
- Mismanagement of the environment can increase social pressures, aggravate tensions
within and among communities and, in the worst cases, lead to conflict. Sustainable
environmental management can be a cost- effective means of building social cohesion,
reinforcing mechanisms for collaboration and dissipating the pressures that threaten to
increase vulnerabilities to disaster and conflict;
- Conservationists may find themselves increasingly called upon to operate in tense and
even violent situations, working in areas where conflict is ongoing and participating in
post- conflict assessments and rebuilding. Understanding the links among environment
and security will be valuable;
- Understanding the link between conservation and social cohesion may offer important
new avenues for disseminating the message of sustainable development and present a
strong argument in favour of investing resources in conservation action.
Upon recognizing the relevance of environment and security issues to conservationists
and the
unique contribution they can make in the field, IUCN and the International Institute for Sustainable
Development embarked on a unique collaboration
In 2000, the Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy established a
Task Force
on Environment and Security to examine the links between conflict, disaster and environmental
management, focusing particularly on the identification of the issues and next steps of particular
relevance to IUCN and its members. One of its central recommendations, underscored by the
consensus of participants at the Task Force's presentation at the World Conservation Congress,
was that CEESP should carry on its work in this field.
To that end, CEESP has incorporated the theme of Environment and Security into its work
programme, and is seeking in collaboration with the International Insitute for Sustainable
Development (IISD), an IUCN member and secretariat to the Task Force, to develop within the
Union a set of projects in the field of Environment and Security. This was an important part of its
message to the world's decision makers and peoples at the World Summit on Sustainable
Development, in Johannesburg in 2002.
