Environmental security: challenges ahead

On 15 and 16 June, the German Foreign Ministry held a conference on ?Environment and Security: Crisis Prevention through Cooperation? at Berlin, which was attended by very senior officials from the German government, including Dr Ludger Volmer, State Minister in the Foreign Office. I was one of the three or four participants from overseas and the only speaker from a developing country. The tone of the entire proceedings was very heartening, with considerable emphasis on how the developed world has created environmental crisis worldwide through excessive consumption and use of the environmental space of the developing world. This has led to the threat of climate change with all its harmful impacts on sea level, agriculture, forestry, and water availability. There were several suggestions for action by the North, such as much lower emissions of greenhouse gases, greater ODA for the developing world to counter environmental threats and even the establishment of a Marshall Plan to help the countries of the South. The theme that recurred throughout the proceedings was an acceptance of the truth that far more dangerous than military threats today was the risk of environmentally triggered conflicts, which the world cannot ignore. It was refreshing to take part in a morally enlightened and responsible debate on what the North should do in this arena, and one wishes that words get translated to action and that those on the other side of the Atlantic start thinking in the same spirit.