ABSTRACT Violent and protracted conflicts, such as those that affected Mozambique and Angola (both countries with a Lusophone colonial heritage), have had severe consequences in terms of wartime dislocation and destruction, especially in rural areas. Land issues per se are not endogenously conflictive, but in post-conflict settings, the scramble for access to the assets necessary to (re-)establish livelihoods for large numbers of people, as well as the pursuit of land access by large-scale commercial interests who capitalise on a fluid land tenure situation to acquire resources, may occur. A nuanced and comparative study of Mozambique and Angola is undertaken that explores the relationship between violence, resources and the environment. It asks two questions: i) What accounts for the relationship between violence (evidenced in both brutal physical acts, threats and increasing vulnerabilities) and land as a resource? ii) Are there lessons to be learnt from these findings that are particular to countries emerging from protracted civil wars? The thesis explores the changing discourses around the concepts of human security and environmental security, and the pressing land issues confronting the African continent. It highlights the complexity of issues – political, social and economic – and the necessity for a theoretical shift away from the popular approaches towards alternative ways of understanding the connections between the environment, violence and resources. It examines the specific dynamics of a post-conflict environment, an area that has received little attention, despite its potential for playing a significant role in ensuring broad-based development and in peace-building. A modified livelihoods framework is also used to analyse land issues on the basis that land is an element of a wider livelihoods approach with a focus on poverty alleviation and wealth creation. Findings mirror those of other international researchers who have found that conflicts over land often have less to do with resource scarcity, but that “violence is more likely when resources are in great abundance or have great economic and strategic value” (Peluso and Watts, 2001: 5). Furthermore, findings support the calls for taking a more inclusive concept of violence and non-violence that recognises that the outward manifestation of disputes may not be violence in the form of civil war, but social disruptions (Liotta, 2005). The value of a post-structuralist political ecology for analysing these various connections is demonstrated in the research findings. It is one which does not search for ‘environmental triggers’ of violent conflicts, but looks at the reciprocal relationship between nature and humans. Both countries are confronting many of the land issues that are common to Africa and which suggest an important new phase in the politics of land. In Angola land tenure and shelter are now insecure for many in both rural and urban areas, while in both countries there is mounting competition and conflict over land and landed resources. There are increasing threats of exclusionary practices and land grabs, but also the more subtle, ‘non-traditional’ security threats of the destruction and damage to livelihoods, of deepening impoverishment, evident in "creeping vulnerabilities”. The findings of the research confirm that in dealing with both equity and efficiency issues, and environmental sustainability and political stability, land policies need to be well integrated into wider social, economic and environmental planning – at various levels, local to global – to strengthen sustainable security. vi Land conflicts are generally contained as local-level disputes, often camouflaged by government or suppressed. While conflict theory points to apparent triggers – differential impacts and political mobilisation – it must be acknowledged that these tensions are more often than not politically sustainable, as leaders justify overriding the interests of the poor in the interests of growth. Furthermore, peace is not the default mode of society: conflicts are at times an integral part of the transformation of land tenures systems and not necessarily destructive in themselves. Concerns need to focus, rather, on those cases where inequity and violence are politically sustainable, and what this means for human security. It is this issue that is recommended for further research. “In contrast to thinking about violent conflict, a human-centred conceptualisation of environmental security asserts the need for cooperation and inclusion to manage the environment for the equal benefit of all people and future generations” (Barnett, 2001: 128).

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the concept of environmental security. A concept that have made way on to the international arena since the end of the Cold War, and have become of more importance since the 1990’s. The discussion regarding man-made environmental change and its possible impacts on the world is very topical; especially with the Nobel Peace Prize winners in 2007 the Intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) and Al Gore.The concept of environmental security is examined through a conceptual investigating study. The reason for this type of study is due to the complexity of the concept and a hope to find a ‘best’ definition to it. A conceptual investigating study is said to help create order in an existing discussion of a social problem, hence the reason for it in this thesis. The outcome of this thesis is that it is near impossible to find a ‘best’ or one definition to the concept of environmental security and that another method to deal with the concept might have presented another result. / Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka konceptet environmental security. Detta koncept har gjort sin väg till ett internationellt erkännande sedan Kalla kriget, och har sedan 1990-talet blivit allt mer aktuellt. Diskussionen gällande människans inverkan på klimatförändringarna och klimathotet är ständigt aktuellt, i synnerhet med tanke på vinnarna av Nobels Freds Pris 2007, med Al Gore i spetsen.Konceptet environmental security är i denna uppsats undersökt genom en begreppsutredande studie. Anledningen till denna typ av studie är att konceptet är såpass komplext men även baserat på hoppet av att hitta en ’bästa’ möjliga definition. Begreppsutredande studier sägs kunna skapa ordning i en existerande diskussion vilket kan ses som den främsta anledningen valet av den i denna uppsats.Resultatet av studien och denna uppsats är att det är i stort sett omöjligt att etablera en bästa definition av begreppet environmental security, samt att en annan metod förmodligen hade presenterat ett annat resultat.

<p>The purpose of this thesis is to explore the concept of environmental security. A concept that have made way on to the international arena since the end of the Cold War, and have become of more importance since the 1990’s. The discussion regarding man-made environmental change and its possible impacts on the world is very topical; especially with the Nobel Peace Prize winners in 2007 the Intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) and Al Gore.The concept of environmental security is examined through a conceptual investigating study. The reason for this type of study is due to the complexity of the concept and a hope to find a ‘best’ definition to it. A conceptual investigating study is said to help create order in an existing discussion of a social problem, hence the reason for it in this thesis. The outcome of this thesis is that it is near impossible to find a ‘best’ or one definition to the concept of environmental security and that another method to deal with the concept might have presented another result.</p> / <p>Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka konceptet environmental security. Detta koncept har gjort sin väg till ett internationellt erkännande sedan Kalla kriget, och har sedan 1990-talet blivit allt mer aktuellt. Diskussionen gällande människans inverkan på klimatförändringarna och klimathotet är ständigt aktuellt, i synnerhet med tanke på vinnarna av Nobels Freds Pris 2007, med Al Gore i spetsen.Konceptet environmental security är i denna uppsats undersökt genom en begreppsutredande studie. Anledningen till denna typ av studie är att konceptet är såpass komplext men även baserat på hoppet av att hitta en ’bästa’ möjliga definition. Begreppsutredande studier sägs kunna skapa ordning i en existerande diskussion vilket kan ses som den främsta anledningen valet av den i denna uppsats.Resultatet av studien och denna uppsats är att det är i stort sett omöjligt att etablera en bästa definition av begreppet environmental security, samt att en annan metod förmodligen hade presenterat ett annat resultat.</p>

This thesis seeks to explore the potential role of cooperation over water resources between Israel, Jordan and Palestine in facilitating the peacemaking process in the region. This was done by conducting an analysis of the Good Water Neighbors (GWN) project, an initiative launched by Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME) in 2001 to raise awareness of the shared water problems that exist between the three conflicting parties. The primary data for this research was obtained through interviews with three FoEME’s employees, who are involved in the GWN initiative in Israel, Jordan and Palestine. It was concluded that while water cooperation at the NGO level can serve as a starting point for dialogue, it does not generate enough spillover into a wider political peace process in the Middle East at the moment. However, water cooperation at the NGO level has a bigger chance to contribute to peacemaking in the long term by gradually replacing politically defined and historically distrustful identities with a concept of a common environmental community, provided that development of shared perceptions and experiences through the means of the GWN project continues to be fostered. By significantly reducing the animosity and hostility, which have been mutually reinforced by the conflicting parties, the formation of the common identity through water cooperation would give stable ground to the traditional diplomacy, engaged in the region, to be able to continue the peacemaking efforts through conventional means of dialogue, mediation and negotiations in a more efficient and effective way. The success of the transition of the joint water management from simple cooperation at the NGO level to the peacemaking tool largely depends on whether the people in the region choose to harness the positive effects from water cooperation for the peace process in the Middle East.

This research study emanates from the inclusion of environmental risks on the global security agenda. Although dating back to the Rio Summit on Environment and Development (UNEP, 1992), this trend gained momentum following the publication of the Fourth Assessment Report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in February 2007 (IPCC, 2007a). The report warned that the global climate system is changing mainly because of man-made greenhouse gas emissions, exposing, amongst others, Africa as a continent most vulnerable to the impact of climate variability and change. Subsequent to the report, the security implications of climate change were discussed by the United Nations Security Council in April 2007 (UN, 2007a). With these developments as a point of departure, the aim of this exploratory study is to investigate the securitisation of environmental risks, particularly the impact of climate change, in South Africa, with specific reference to official perceptions of (and where applicable, policy responses to) environmental security between 2007 and 2012. As a literature and documentary case study on South Africa, the research utilises a conceptual framework that broadens and deepens the concept of security to include the environment as a non-traditional (non-military) aspect. In this context, environmental risks are discussed as a challenge to security, considering their contemporary relevance. Environmental security is discussed as an emerging security issue in the context of its global and regional scope; its linkage to and impact on food, water and energy security; and its influence on the political, economic, and social sectors of security. Further, the study indicates that Southern Africa in general, and South Africa in particular, are highly vulnerable to the impact of environmental risks such as climate change; and that such risks indeed exacerbate existing security risks and threats. Against this backdrop, the South African government’s securitisation (or lack of securitisation) of the environment is described and explored with reference to official views on environmental security. The analysis indicates that the Government securitises environmental risks such as climate change to a limited degree only (in terms of securitising speech and act); and the issue thus does not fall within the ambit of security, but rather that of sustainable development. The Government base their unsecuritised stance on the impact of environmental risks, on the country’s basic natural resources (such as food, water and energy) being overwhelmed by existing growth pressures; and that the Administration’s current priority is inter alia social development issues, such as employment and poverty eradication. The study concludes with a summary of key findings in response to the stated research problem, and with recommendations concerning the South African government’s response to environmental security. / Dissertation (MSS)--University of Pretoria, 2015. / Political Sciences / Unrestricted

Many scientists have described the anthropogenic climate changes as one of the most pervasive threat of our time that will form this and future generations. Despite that is the climate change is still controversial and missing from the American security agenda. The purpose of this study is to empirically analyse the American environmental discourse under the administration of Donald Trump and the omission of climate changes in the security agenda. To be able to explain the absence of the climate changes in the American security agenda, the environmental discourse will be analysed and the theoretical framework of Copenhagen’s school of securitization will be used to define the current description of the environment, the climate threats, and the global warming. By using a qualitative text analysis, consisting of a discourse analysis, lectures, debates, and documents from the Trump administration are examined, to be able to understand how the discourse is constructed and thus how the omission of the climate changes from the security agenda can be understood by using the securitization theory. The study indicates that the approach taken by the Trump administration on the American environmental discourse is produced can prevent the climate changes, the global warming, and the environment to be securitized, which in its turn can contribute to understanding of why it has not been brought up in the American security agenda. In the analysis it can be concluded that the Trump administration have moved towards a morepoliticized discourse, but also towards a depoliticized discourse.

No description available.

This thesis assesses the potential success of the United States’ newly assumed role as chairman of the Arctic Council in light of its own record of development in Alaska, its only Arctic territory. Using primary and secondary qualitative research, perspectives from multiple stakeholders are analyzed to assess the United States’ current capabilities in the Arctic versus its rhetoric and responsibilities. To gauge this more effectively, the theory of problem-solving capacity is used to analyze the United States’ potential capacity in the Arctic Council, while the theory of environmental security is used to analyze the United States’ level of investment and commitment to Alaska. With development in Alaska minimal at best and local communities at risk from environmental impacts, the ideal tool for addressing these deficiencies is identified to be icebreakers operated by the United States Coast Guard. Impediments to acquiring sufficient icebreaking capacity are explored, with the conclusion that if the United States is to take effective action on the Arctic stage, investment in icebreakers and therefore the environment and inhabitants of the Arctic is necessary. Not doing so reveals the USA’s agenda to be empty rhetoric and consequently this lost opportunity for leadership may lead to catastrophic results for the region.

<p>Big dangerous Russia, environmental thief or house warmer? The Nord Stream pipelines are a highly debated theme in Europe and the EU. A number of different countries will be subject to the pipelines direct or indirect. This paper aims to figure out what kind of threats and possibilities Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Germany consider to be the consequences with the pipelines.</p><p>The study takes as a standpoint the area of security studies and the widened of the same. The three standpoints within the security study that will be used are military security, environmental security and energy security. It is a comparative study that has been done with help of a text analysis.</p><p>The analysis concludes that Sweden is the country of the four that finds the most threats with the pipeline. Sweden thinks Nord Stream is a threat within all of the three securities mentioned above even though Sweden also see a possibility within energy security. Denmark, on the other hand, does not see a threat at all and Germany and Finland see a threat within the environmental area but not within the two other areas. They also see a possibility within the energy security.</p>

A geopolítica vem apresentando várias contribuições ao estudo da relação entre recursos naturais e conflito. Entre esses recursos, a água é um dos que mais vem sendo apontado como suscetível de desencadear conflitos. Na visão geopolítica, a relação entre tensões e recursos hídricos é estruturada a partir da multicausalidade, e, portanto, há inúmeros fatores de diferentes escalas geográficas que se coadunam com a gestão dos recursos hídricos engendrando conflitos. Nesse contexto, a Guerra da Água, em Cochabamba, Bolívia, constitui um evento bastante estudado pela comunidade acadêmica, sendo retratado como a vitória da sociedade civil local sobre a empresa multinacional Aguas del Tunari, responsável pelo abastecimento de água naquela cidade boliviana. Entretanto, outros fatores nas escalas nacional, sulamericana e global influenciaram a deflagração das tensões, tendo seus efeitos repercutido em escalas mais amplas que apenas a local. No presente estudo, visamos avaliar a atuação das diferentes territorialidades na área metropolitana de Cochabamba, bem como os fatores estruturantes e estruturados desse conflito nos âmbitos nacional, sul-americano e global. Esta pesquisa consistiu em um estudo de caso de características analítica, descritiva e qualitativa. A pesquisa analítica se desenvolveu a partir de três dimensões: 1) a caracterização do objeto de pesquisa; 2) a dimensão espacial; 3) a dimensão temporal. O processo descritivo baseou-se em entrevistas com os líderes dos movimentos sociais atuantes durante a Guerra da Água, além de abranger estudos avaliativos de documentos, dados estatísticos e bibliográficos. Já o caráter qualitativo desenvolveu-se por meio da coleta de dados e observação longa e extensiva in loco. Concluímos que a caracterização da Guerra da Água apenas como um conflito relacionado aos recursos hídricos é incompleta e reducionista, já que diferentes tensões de várias escalas se materializam na região. / Geopolitics has presented many contributions to study the relation between natural resources and conflicts. Among these resources, water has been pointed out as the most susceptible to motivate conflicts. According to the geopolitical perspective, the relationship between tensions and water resources is structured on the multicausality, and, therefore, there are countless factors from different scales that together with the management of water resources can engender conflicts. In this context, the Water War in Cochabamba, Bolivia, is an event which is highly investigated by the academic community and is portrayed as the victory of local civil society over the multinational company Aguas del Tunari, responsible for the water supply in that Bolivian city. However, other agents in the national, south-American, and global spheres influenced the factors that triggered tensions and had their effects reflecting on broader scales than the local one. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the action of different territorialities in the metropolitan area of Cochabamba, as well as the structuring and structured factors of the Water War in the national, south-American, and global spheres. This research consisted of a case study with analytical, descriptive, and qualitative characteristics. The analytical research was developed taking into account three dimensions: 1) the characterization of the research object; 2) the spatial dimension; 3) the temporal dimension. The descriptive process was based on interviews with the social movements leaders that acted during the Water War, and also included the evaluation of documents, statistical and bibliographic data. The qualitative characteristic of this study was developed by means of data collection and long and extensive observations in loco. After analyzing the facts, data, and context of the Water War, we concluded that the characterizing this conflict as related only to water resources is incomplete and reductionist, since different tensions of many scales influence that region.