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Environmental Security: Resources, Safety, and Management

LEPC8 - Ευάγγελος Πρωτοπαπαδάκης

Course Description

Humanity stands on the threshold of crossing multiple planetary boundaries. Due to a rapidly changing and often degraded environment, and the persistence of geopolitical tensions, decision-makers are paying increasing attention to the interconnections between environment and security. Environmental concerns and the management of natural resources are now essential elements of peace missions, thus making the critical study of different concepts of environmental security mandatory. The analysis of environmental security begins with the basic needs arising from access to natural resources towards a dynamic relationship with natural conditions and socio-political forces. It explores the relationship between security and environmental change and the urgent need to overcome the distinction between the natural world on the one hand and human society and well-being on the other. The main challenges, such as resource depletion, climate change, food insecurity, and health issues, are analyzed through different ethical assumptions that encourage different sets of responses to management and policy-making. By gathering a diverse set of information and theoretical analyses, a comprehensive overview is provided of the risks, disasters, and conflicts posed by environmental fluctuations and pressures, as well as the prospects for building environmental peace. This approach is embedded within the broader framework of environmental philosophy, identifying parallel discussions on human rights, the Anthropocene, the biosphere, and post-human security in space and time.

Syllabus
Course Syllabus

I. Global Changes and Environmental Security, Socio-ethical Parameters
II. Environmental Security: Introduction, Definitions & Conceptual Approaches
III. Environmental Security as an Existential Parameter in Human Security
IV. Environmental Conflicts & Conflicting Values for the Environment
V. Water, Land, Forest, Coastal, and Marine Resources and Environmental Security
VI. Energy and Environment: Sustainability and Security
VII. Population, Environmental Pressure, Migration, and Conflicts
VIII. Disasters, Vulnerability, Environment, and Security
IX. Climate Change, Food Security, and Environment
X. Environmental Movement, Rules, and Laws
XI. Environmental Peacebuilding
XII. Artificial Intelligence for Environmental Security

Course Objectives/Goals

• Informing students about global, regional, and national environmental frameworks so that they can think and act for the future of environmental security.
• Familiarizing students with the typologies of environmental insecurities and conflicts, including their different philosophical and social approaches.
• Identifying security risks related to the environment and their ethical implications for different groups of people, focusing on racial and social disparities among others.
• Examining the scarcity and degradation of environmental resources (terrestrial, forest, coastal, and marine) and their connection to insecurity in livelihoods, poverty, environmental degradation, and conflicts.
• Familiarization with ethical assessment in the absence of natural resources, population growth, environmental stress, and consequent migration on a national and regional level.
• Focus on global climate change, its deeper philosophical and social causes, and its impacts on various regions, with special reference to the Middle East and North Africa.
• Informing about legal and institutional frameworks and environmental movements in addressing the environmental crisis, conflicts, and achieving environmental sustainability and peace.
• Analyzing the design of policies, strategies, and programmatic interventions that incorporate goals of environmental security, conflict prevention, and peacebuilding.

Instructional Methods

This course employs a dynamic blend of instructional methods to ensure a comprehensive learning experience. With a focus on engagement and flexibility, the instructional approach comprises 75% face-to-face teaching, fostering direct interaction between instructors and students in a traditional classroom setting. Additionally, 25% of the course involves distant teaching, which can be delivered either synchronously or asynchronously. This remote component allows students to access course materials, participate in discussions, and engage with learning activities at their own pace, leveraging online platforms and resources. By combining face-to-face interaction with remote learning opportunities, the course aims to cater to diverse learning styles and preferences, facilitating deeper understanding and collaboration among students while accommodating individual schedules and needs.
Assessment Methods
- 20%: Participation
- 20%: Oral presentation
- 60%: Written assignment
Prerequisites/Prior Knowledge

This module has no prerequisites in the curriculum or prior knowledge requirements.

Instructors

Instructors for the course will be announced shortly.

Textbooks

To be added soon.
Bibliography
- Weir, L. (Ed.) (2022). Philosophy as Practice in the Ecological Emergency: An Exploration of Urgent Matters. Springer Verlag
- Dalby, S. (2022). Rethinking Environmental Security. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
- Peppoloni, S., Di Capua, G. (2022). Manifesto for an Ethics of Responsibility Towards the Earth. Springer International Publishing
- Matthew, R.A., Nizkorodov, E., & Murphy, C. (Eds.). (2021). Routledge Handbook of Environmental Security (1st ed.). Routledge.
- McDonald, M. (2021). Ecological Security: Climate Change and the Construction of Security. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- Swain, A., Öjendal, J., Jägerskog, A., (Eds.) (2021). Handbook of Security and the Environment. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar
- Behnassi M., Gupta H., Pollmann O. (Eds.) (2019). Human and Environmental Security in the Era of Global Risks: Perspectives from Africa, Asia and the Pacific Islands. Springer International Publishing
- Hardt, J.N. (2018) Environmental Security in the Anthropocene. Assessing Theory and Practice. Routledge
- Smith, K.K. (2018). Exploring Environmental Ethics. An Introduction. Springer International Publishing
- Diez, T., von Lucke, F., Wellmann, Z. (2016). The Securitisation of Climate Change. Actors, processes and consequences. Routledge
- Balint, P.J., Stewart, R.E., Desai, A., Walters, L.C. (2011). Wicked Environmental Problems. Managing uncertainty and conflict. Island Press