This volume presents the main environmental security challenges facing transition countries as well as practical methods and approaches for addressing them, which are equally applicable to all countries. Coverage also details lesson learned as illustrated via research and case studies as well as issues related to metals in the environment.

Economic development, population growth and poor resource management have combined to alter the planet's natural environment in dramatic and alarming ways. The field of environmental security has matured in response to improved scientific understanding of the causes and trends of global environmental change. Research conducted in the past two decades has grappled with this core set of questions in a variety of ways, generating findings and hypotheses that have stimulated considerable intellectual and policy activity. This volume takes stock of the research, and organizes it into a framework, described in the first chapter of the volume, that clarifies its achievements as well as identifies its weaknesses and gaps. This is followed by seven chapters representing the various ways in which environmental change and security have been linked, and including the principal critiques of this linkage. A third section explores six key issue areas: water, population, development, food, energy and climate change. The book concludes with a chapter on the future of environmental security.

This book presents a comprehensive account of the energy and environmental security perspectives of the developing countries. To address the subject comprehensively, it covers four geographically diverse clusters of developing countries from across the world. The regions particularly focused on are: South Asia, South East Asia, Sub Sahara Africa, and Latin America. It is a valuable contribution to the debate, and policy and research activities around the subjects of energy and environmental security in the developing countries and beyond. The book covers the interwoven subjects of energy security and environmental security in the context of developing countries for the first time. It discusses the latest dimensions, challenges, and solutions around taking into account technical, economic, social, and policy perspectives. It incorporates up-to-date data, case studies, and comparative assessment. This edited book has contributions from established as well as emerging scholars from around the world. It benefits a wide range of stakeholders from the fields of energy, environment, and sustainable development. It is of help to academics, researchers, and analysts in these fields besides having appeal for policymakers, and national and international developmental organizations. It also helps developing countries to learn from each other’s experiences.

In the post-Cold War era, the pre-eminent threats to our security derive from human degradation of vital ecosystems as well as the possibility of war and terrorist attack. This substantial book examines this new 'security-environment' paradigm and the way in which the activities of societies are shifting the balance with nature. The distinguished authors investigate this redefinition of security with particular reference to environmental threats such as climate change and the availability of adequate supplies of food and water. They illustrate how unfettered economic growth, rising levels of personal consumption and unsustainable natural resource and energy procurement are taking a heavy toll on the global environment. This, in turn, is forcing both developed and developing countries to re-evaluate the more immediate environmental security of their own populations. For a truly global perspective, the authors present a series of country case-studies, looking at issues of security and environment, and comparing how they influence policy and human well-being. They also discuss a number of theoretical issues which underpin discussions of 'environmental security', demonstrating that this is a relatively new and essentially contested concept.

As the importance of environmental security increases worldwide, colleges and universities are evaluating how well they are preparing the next generation of environmental scientists and managers and developing new educational approaches. In this volume, we examine: (1) current educational practices and the need for change, (2) educational needs from the perspective of employers and professionals, and (3) new practices in higher education in environmental fields. The contributors were carefully selected by an international coordinating team based on their international reputations in the field of progressive educational approaches and understanding of the global employment market in environmental science. Although the focal geographic areas are North America, Europe and the former Soviet republics, the ideas and strategies discussed are universal to all institutions of higher education. We highlight specific non-traditional approaches such as using the university as a curricular tool, developing permaculture programs, and applying sustainability pedagogy, and document their success from both a student and employer perspective. We also include case studies on risk assessment and eco-efficiency education to illustrate why and how transdisciplinary education can be accomplished. We conclude that it is imperative that our educational systems teach environmental security at the university level within a transdisciplinary context; and that opportunities, such as internships and other methods of applied learning, are included in the curriculum.

This book examines the implications of rapid human population growth for global stability and security.