Combatting Climate Change in the Pacific by Marc Williams & Duncan McDuie-Ra

Author:Marc Williams & Duncan McDuie-Ra
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer International Publishing, Cham

The key issues are: resource decline and environmental degradation as the source of actual conflict between states; environmental degradation as a cause of diplomatic disputes, political tension, or the deployment of military capability short of prolonged conflict; environmental degradation as a contribution to the breakdown of societal relations, especially in fragile states; resources and environmental services as a ‘weapon’ of war; environmental degradation as consequence of war and conflict; environmental threats to economic security; environmental degradation linked to other forms of non-traditional security; environmental security and human security; security of and for the environment (ibid: 41–46).

Despite this overabundance of linkages between security and the environment the various cleavages can usefully be conceived as giving rise to two discourses on security and the environment (Detraz 2011; Elliott 2007). Detraz (2011: 106–107) distinguishes between an environmental conflict discourse which links environmental issues with traditional security concerns and an environmental security discourse with a focus on vulnerabilities experienced by human beings as a result of environmental degradation. In a similar manner, Elliott (2007: 137–138) distinguishes between a ‘modified realist position’, which focuses on the role of environmental degradation in producing armed conflict and thus threatening the security of states, and a ‘human security position’ in which the focus is on the role of environmental degradation in jeopardizing sustainable livelihoods and thus threatening the security of individuals and communities. We agree with these authors that there are indeed two discursive constructions of environmental security. As noted above one approach has its antecedents in the traditional security paradigm and is primarily focused on inter-state conflict and the likelihood that a military response will be required in the face of security challenges raised by environmental degradation. An alternative approach owes its intellectual heritage to non-traditional perspectives on security (including human security) and frames the impact of environmental degradation in terms of vulnerabilities (Webersik 2010) and the appropriate security response in the context of resilience and cooperative behaviour. Greater attention is given to the impact of environmental degradation and resulting insecurities for individuals and communities rather than for states (McDonald 2013). Here we refer to these two approaches to environmental security simply as the ‘conflict approach’ and the ‘vulnerabilities approach’. While not wishing to add further conceptual vocabulary to the debate merely for the sake of it, we believe that these terms capture the broad intent of both Detraz and Elliot while also marking a clearer distinction between the two different approaches.

Given the existence of competing perspectives on environmental security it is important to acknowledge that experiences and understandings of environmental security cannot be assumed, they differ within states, national groups, ethnic groups, and communities. Below we will illustrate the ways in which differing framings of environmental security lead to different constructions of climate security in the Pacific. But prior to that exercise it is necessary to discuss briefly the process through which different perspectives on security seek to become authoritative.

The concept of securitization introduced by the Copenhagen School provides a useful tool with which to understand the existence of competing security discourses.

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