安全保障の概念と環境問題

安全保障の理論と政策

抄録

The issues of acid rain, the depletion of the ozone layer, global warming and its effect on sea-level rise and climate change are fostering world recognition that environmental degradation has become a threat to human society. On the other hand, while the loss of forest and wetland due to human development is rapidly depriving fauna and flora of their niche around the world, the widespread use of chemical fertilizer and pesticide as well as the destruction of local commons result in the exploitation and erosion of top soil. Hence human beings themselves have become a threat to the earth's ecosystem. However, we can all at once neither abandon modern agriculture nor cease to be dependent on natural food resources from the rivers and seas to feed the ever growing world population. Among the peoples in developing countries, poverty is the prime cause of environmental destruction not development.
How can we protect and, at the same time, utilize our global common properties such as water, air, and top soil? How can we establish a sustainable society based on regional and generational equity? It seems the discipline of international relations, like other academic fields, at least needs to incorporate the aspect of a global-level of analysis into its perspectives.
Shedding light on the connection between the concept of security and environmental problems, this paper searches for a new research direction in the field of international relations. First, the concept of security itself is briefly examined. The meaning of the term security differs in various issue areas including military, political, economic and social issue areas and thus security concerns also differ among these areas. Next, the term environmental security is scrutinized in comparison with the general concept of security since the connotation of environmental security can mislead research activities and our recognition of environmental problems per se.
Finally, the main body of this paper categorizes recent achievements on the relationships between security and environmental issues into three perspectives. One of them is a traditional perspective that perceives the significance of environmental problems in conjunction with politico-military disputes. A second one consists of an ecological perspecive and comprehensive security that urge the discipline of international relations to adapt itself to global environmental changes. Eclectic perspectives between these two are those of international diplomats or other practitioners who are engaging in environmental issues, and liberal regime theorists who seek a possibility of global governance without an international government.