What is Human Security? Founder Advisory Board Webster University Contact

RESOURCES & ENVIRONMENT Long-term climate changes are occurring, and there is scientific evidence that shows that the global warming and climate changes occurring at the moment are largely due to human activities. Droughts, tropical storms, heat waves and the rising in sea level are example of threats occurring frequently during the last decades. Security issues which are linked to the areas of environment and resources are attracting increased attention from the international community. Climate change and severe consequences of such can contribute to the deterioration of conflict and pose a threat to human security. The possession of important Natural Resources has often led to conflict rather than economic advancement. The concept of the “resource curse” or the “oil curse” describes this phenomenon. Profits obtained through the exploitation of natural resources are many countries reserved for a small group people, producing discontent within the population of the country. This creates an intolerable situation of injustice which in turn may cause severe threats to the security of the population. Threats coming from the environment and resources are not directly linked to the threat of an individual. However, following the consequences of climate change or unjust exploitation of natural resources one can imagine many possible threats to human security. To better understand the relationship between these two concepts and human security, such situations must be addressed. Links: UN: www.unep.org Institute for Environmentatl Security: http://www.envirosecurity.org/ Book Recommendations: Richard A. Matthew, Jon Barnett, Bryan McDonald, and Karen L. O'Brien (eds.) Global Environmental Change and Human Security. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2009. Macartan Humphreys, Jeffrey D. Sachs, and Joseph E. Stiglitz (eds.) Escaping the Resource Curse (Initiative for Policy Dialogue at Colombia: Challenges in Development and Globalization). New York: Colombia University Press, 2007.