¶ … Security Agenda

Question Raised:

Going over the readings on Environmental Security, it seems that most of the problems are stemming from over population. Too many people consuming too much of the worlds resources and expending too much energy doing it. If this is the case, should measures be put in place to try and slow down the expansion of the world population (such as China's one child policy or something similar)? And if this is the case, could this amount to a new security threat to nations who are looking to increase their population for economic or other reasons?

Answer to Question Raised:

The question raised seems to focus exclusively on the causal connection between a broad security agenda and population growth. In fact, it is not necessarily population growth (much less in impoverished communities or those in countries with exploding populations) that is the source of the problem. Actually, the over-consumption of available energy is more attributable to wealthier societies, such as in the United States. Despite accounting for less than five percent of the global population, Americans consume approximately twenty-five percent of fossil fuel (and other) energy resources.

To the extent a broad security agenda appropriately includes a concern over energy resources, that concern must address issues of consumption patterns, lifestyle habits, and insufficient development of alternative energy sources and processes. By contrast, direct population control such as through mandatory restrictions against having children represents a simplistic and unproductive approach to the problem that, in addition, is violative of fundamental human rights and autonomy of individuals and families to decide for themselves how large a family to have.

Furthermore, in terms of security, the real issue in the realm of energy and natural resources relates not to their overuse but to their deliberate disruption or destruction for terrorist or criminal purposes. Typical examples would include recently publicized cases of individuals who attempted to profit from oil and natural gas futures by puncturing pipelines located in remote areas to drive up prices in conjunction with coordinated efforts to pre-purchase large volumes of stock in those commodities. Therefore, it is crime and the strategic disruption of energy resources rather than overpopulation that is a legitimate security issue in contemporary society.