Global Environmental Change and Human Security

by Richard A. Matthew (Editor), Jon Barnett (Editor), Karen L. O'Brien (Editor)

In recent years, scholars in international relations and other fields have begun to conceive of security more broadly, moving away from a state-centered concept of national security toward the idea of human security, which emphasizes the individual and human well-being. Viewing global environmental change through the lens of human security connects such problems as melting ice caps and carbon emissions to poverty, vulnerability, equity, and conflict. This book examines the complex social, health, and economic consequences of environmental change across the globe.

In chapters that are both academically rigorous and policy relevant, the book discusses the connections of global environmental change to urban poverty, natural disasters (with a case study of Hurricane Katrina), violent conflict (with a study of the decade-long Nepalese civil war), population, gender, and development. The book makes clear the inadequacy of traditional understandings of security and shows how global environmental change is raising new, unavoidable questions of human insecurity, conflict, cooperation, and sustainable development.

W. Neil Adger, Jennifer Bailey, Jon Barnett, Victoria Basolo, Hans Georg Bohle, Mike Brklacich, May Chazan, Chris Cocklin, Geoffrey D. Dabelko, Indra de Soysa, Heather Goldsworthy, Betsy Hartmann, Robin M. Leichenko, Laura Little, Alexander Lopez, Richard A. Matthew, Bryan McDonald, Eric Neumayer, Kwasi Nsiah-Gyabaah, Karen L. O'Brien, Marvin S. Soroos, Bishnu Raj Upreti

327 pages, Hardcover

First published September 25, 2009

Reviews

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

This collection of essays ranges from hard-to-follow to well-organized. Some authors get wrapped up in their own phraseology ("neo-Malthusianism," anyone?) while others do a great job of making their message clear (Lopez's work on Central America, for example). The essays range from broad and general topics (politics or housing issues and human security) to very specific and location-focused (New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina or internal Nepal issues). Those that focus on specific regions would do well to follow Lopez's example and include maps (I, for one, still am not familiar with the Kathmandu Valley or the border regions of Nepal and India) and a diagram would have helped immensely.

I wish I had read the last chapter first. It does a better job glossing over the other chapters, summarizing their points, and giving "food for thought" than the first chapter does.