article written for Peace Mosaic
March 2010
in 2004 caused a sensation by the publication of a Pentagon report on climate change. It was thought that even if the Pentagon decided to take a position, then the situation was really serious, but not tried to understand what was behind the news, or to conduct a complete the link between security models and environmental issues and sustainability. In 2007, the United Kingdom initiated an unprecedented climate debate in the Security Council of the United Nations, strongly criticized by developing countries who did not accept the idea of \u200b\u200ba debate of such importance in a forum where the majority of countries " polluters "still have the power to veto. Since then the issue became the subject of new processing and proposals that have helped to build an approach that is today called "environmental" or "sustainable security", which marks the entry into the field of the military and strategic studies centers in issues the urgency of changing development paradigm.
It is estimated that at least 1 / 5 of the wars on the planet has to do with natural resources and the environment. According to the report "Sustainable Security for the XXI Century" Oxford Research Group, climate change is, together with the competition on scarce natural resources and strategic, one of the causes of future nailed together with a nuclear arms race and social marginalization caused by neoliberal policies. The processing path to the climate conference in Copenhagen has seen unprecedented investments, with retired generals, scientists and analysts gathered in the Military Advisory Council, who have examined the possible impact of climate on the new wars in terms of strategy and reconfiguration of security doctrines. It is estimated that climate change could lead to violent conflict in at least 46 countries, impacting a population of 2.7 billion people. Given the failure of the Copenhagen conference, under the framework for the global ecological perspective continues to be alarming. The drama of environmental refugees could reach catastrophic proportions, not only in the island (it is enough to Tuvalu, Comoros, Maldives, and others were threatened in their very existence, but also in areas with shortages of essential resources such as land, water and Food, Exacerbation of latent conflicts or causing new. Faced with this huge ecological debt already accumulated stands almost nonexistent political will of countries in the global North to drop their model production and economics of fossil fuels or hazardous solutions such as agrofuels. In this framework will be unavoidable to address the issue of climate and energy in terms of fairness and security, developing an approach that can counteract what he means and defuse security through the lens of military control of sources of supply or poor risk. This is the basic philosophy pursued by NATO taking over one of the "mission" approved following a review of its strategic concept made in Washington in 1999, even suggests the use of its rapid deployment forces to ensure the continuity of 'energy supply. Weapons and soldiers would be sent to monitor the routes of oil tankers, pipelines or gas pipelines or to protect. It is no coincidence that the former executive chairman of Shell is now - along with Madeleine Albright - the head of the working group is currently in charge of the further review of the strategic concept of NATO. As it is no coincidence that another ex - president of the Shell and then consultant to the CIA was among the authors of the Pentagon report in 2004. The oil wars have another dark side, those resulting from the devastating effects of the extraction of oil or other fossil fuels that have exacerbated latent conflicts in socially fragile areas such as the Niger Delta, or in Darfur. The latter, that would be able to define interventional vulgata genocide, has instead been defined by the United Nations first war caused by climate change and this confirms the complexity of the problem and the futility of using definitions that might pave the way to false solutions. The real cause of the conflict in Darfur is competing for scarce resources (land and water) between nomadic and sedentary, strained by desertification caused by climate change. The paradox is that those people suffer doubly dependence fossil fuels that characterizes the dominant development model. On one side are suffering a war caused by the demands of suburban areas to a fair access to royalties from oil taken from multinational enterprises, and socio-environmental impacts of the extraction of oil and its combustion by climate change. There is therefore a great paradox, which is repeated elsewhere in Africa, where the aims of strategic control of transnational companies are intertwined with those of the ruling elite, with the inequities in the redistribution of profits from the extraction of oil, and with ' social and environmental impacts thereof. In addition, that although great producer and exporter of oil, Sudan experienced a severe energy shortage that would be partly satisfied by the recovery of hydro power. This possibility introduces new critical element represented by the popular movements of resistance generated by the discontent caused by the construction of two dams in the north, perceived by local populations as a threat to their traditional cultures. The geopolitics of water is another key theme in the analysis of the link between natural resources and conflict. One need only recall the case of Palestine, or the use of strategic large dams done by the Turkish government to colonize and control the Kurdistan, with the example of the Ilisu Dam. What is interesting in this context is the possibility that through collective agreements and use of transboundary waters can build peace and reconciliation projects Trai peoples. Already in 2005, the Worldwatch Institute reported the results of a research conducted by the University of Oregon that largely dispel the myth of "water wars". The last 50 years have in fact seen only 37 conflicts over water with the use of force, 30 of which one between Israel and neighboring countries. 507 were cases of political and diplomatic on conflict between countries for the control or management of water, while well 1228 are the events that led to the conclusion of cooperation agreements. Therefore, rather than be a factor of war, or at least nell'aggravarsi contributory cause of conditions that then lead to conflicts, the water can be an instrument for building peace. Is not just in the tank of our car that materializes a link in the chain that binds our models of development to environmental destruction and competition for scarce natural resources, the environment and existing or potential armed conflict, including in the circuits of a phone, for example, hides the last link in a war economy, fueled illegal extraction of coltan, a mineral policy in Congo sold to buy weapons with which to fight the bloody wars in Africa. They are wars fueled illegal extraction of resources (not need, as in the case of oil, major infrastructure) and the vicious circle that links to the illegal arms trade, the activities of warlords and mercenary forces.
Water, oil, climate change, competition over scarce resources are the key elements that allow the construction of an approach that focuses on the rights of any solution to environmental and ecological justice next to that of people's diplomacy and from below, in order to transform also international cooperation in peace-building tool active. The necessary revision of the concept of safety and pollution prevention policy and non-violent conflict resolution will not actually propose tools that allow each and every one to understand as through their lifestyles will contribute negatively or positively to peace building. On the negative side first, since our ecological rucksack, or rather our ecological footprint tramples the rights of other people, takes them a bit 'of water, land, timber, minerals, and has an impact on their lives twice. Before draining resources and then returning them as waste material, liquid or gas, taking away their other food, water and earth. The figures speak to us then of possible new wars, those of the poor, not just NATO, but those of the millions of underprivileged who lose their sources of their already difficult existence. Will be wars and hidden underground, those that will not be the first titles media attention or not will not come easily because of the movements in the lexicon-imperialist or post-colonial or international solidarity. The environmental issue becomes paradigmatic of the new cosmopolitan politics. A condition that includes a new element, the transnational and intergenerational equity. In other words, the ecological justice. As specified in one of his reports the Wuppertal Institute ("For a future fair, conflicts over resources and global justice" by Wolfgang Sachs) "the first ecological justice concerns the biosphere, the second focuses on the inter-relationship between those living now and future generations. Extends the principle equity on the time axis. Nevertheless, these concepts show a gap, do not take into account the institutions created by men and their interrelationships. E 'therefore urgent to put in question the model of well-being of modern industry. "A further challenge for the peace movement, and through this analysis is key to building strong alliances with the movements that deal with environmental and climate justice to develop a model nonviolent conflict resolution and prevention of "reconciliation" with the planet and its inhabitants.
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