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A Millennium Project global assessment of future developments conducted in 1996 identified "Environmental Security" as increasingly important but poorly understood; hence, the Project welcomed the opportunity to engage a cross-section of international intellects in providing a better understanding of this emerging concept.
The study began with a literature survey which had three purposes: 1) to identify an advisory committee for the study; 2) to create an international environmental security panel; and 3) to draft a questionnaire for a two-round environmental security study. The advisory committee reviewed the draft questionnaire and gave general advice for the study.
The Advisory Committee Members were:
Derry Allen, OPPE, U.S.EPA
Tom Beer, Commonwealth (of Australia) Scientific and Industrial Research
Organization (CSIRO)
Marion Cheatle, UNEP, Nairobi, Kenya
Geoffrey Dabelko, Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington, D.C.
Francisco Dallmeier, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Jeff Jordan, The Futures Ground International, Washington, D.C.
Jonathan Margolis, Department of State, Washington, D.C.
John McNeill, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
Renet Perelet, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russian Federation
Jamie Reaser, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Dave Rejeski, Council on Environmental Quality, Office of the President
Peter Rzeszotarski, Army Environmental Policy Institute, Atlanta, GA
P.J. Simmons, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington,
D.C.
Jeffrey Simon, consulting company on unconventional warfare and terrorism
Bruce Tripp, Mitre, McLean, VA
Peter Timmerman, International Federation of Institutes of Advanced
Studies, Toronto, Canada
Rusong Wang, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, P.R. China
Bruce Weinrod, former DOD Asst. Sec. for Europe and NATO Affairs
The first round of the Environmental Security Questionnaire posed the following questions: 1) Does your country have an official definition of environmental security; 2) How should environmental security be defined; 3) What are potential threats to environmental security; and 4) What general polices should address this issue, and who should provide the leadership? The full text of rounds one and two are in Appendix B.
The first round of the questionnaire was sent to a panel of 60 individuals selected from Millennium Project participants, the literature review, individuals recommended by the Advisory Committee, and selected embassy military and environmental attaches to Washington, D.C. The 40 who responded are listed in Appendix A.
During the process of inviting embassy representatives to respond to
the questionnaire, several military attaches requested that the Millennium
Project conduct an informal meeting to share initial results. This provided
an interesting opportunity to collect more subjective views and receive
feedback not easily collected by other means. The meeting was held at the
World Bank on 9 June 1998 (see appendix for list of participants). During
this meeting, drafts of definitions and charts in the Executive Summary
this report were evaluated for their utility and completeness. This meeting
and subsequent telephone conversations with several embassy military attaches
confirmed that the study had initiated dialogues in many national capitols
about the nature of environmental security.
The second round of the questionnaire asked who should provide
the policy leadership for the threats identified in the first round questionnaire.
It was sent to those who attended the group discussion at the World Bank
as well as to approximately twenty embassies to Washington, D.C.
In parallel to the literature survey, questionnaires, and discussion group, Dr. Renat Perelet of the Russian Academy of Science and a leading international expert on environmental security wrote a background paper for the study. The paper provides an overview of the evolution of concepts leading to environmental security as well as a discussion of the contemporary issues of environmental security. The paper was used as an additional source from which this report draws insight. The entire paper is included in Appendix C.
Section 2 presents the results of panel's ratings of usefulness of the definitions of environmental security offered in the Round 1 questionnaire, as well as their comments on each suggested definition, and their alternative definitions.
Section 3 provides the panel's views on environmental threats organized by the environmental threat matrix presented in the Executive Summary of this report. Panelists were also asked to suggest who should provide the leadership to address each threat. The results are included with each threat listed in Section 3.
Section 4 presents the panel's views on the issues of defining environmental security, and its relationship to sustainable development, and related issues. Section 5 includes the panel's views on the issues of environmental security policy and issues involved in policy leadership. Section 6 lists the recommendations of the study.
In addition to the appendices listing participants (A), the questionnaires
(B), the background paper (C), and bibliographies for environmental security
(D), related global issues and opportunities from the Millennium Project
are included for to provide the reader with additional background on international
perspectives related to the evolving environmental security policy discussions.
Appen-dix E was drawn from a separate study conducted over the past two
years by the Millennium Project. The views from 300 futurists, scholars,
and decision makers form 60 countries were distilled and organized by actions
to address the issues and opportunities related to environmental security.
Appendix F lists environmentally related international protocols, conventions,
and treaties to give the reader an overview international legal instruments
that could affect policy development.