ISSUE 38: SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2005

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International focus shifting to environment and human security 

New opportunities for the international community to come to grips with environment and human security issues are foreshadowed in the third edition of InterSecTions (Interdisciplinary Security Connections), published by UNU Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS).

In Global Governance and UN Reform: Challenges and Opportunities for Environment and Human Security, author Andreas Rechkemmer (right) argues that although environmental concerns were not foreseen by the founders of the United Nations, they have become increasingly important to the global community.

A complex architecture of UN departments and specialized agencies, convention secretariats and autonomous regimes has been constructed during the past 35 years but environmental issues have yet to appear at the top agenda of world politics. While security, development and trade, for instance, are being addressed through high-level consultative mechanisms or specialised international organizations, the environment is not in a position to be negotiated at the same political level.

This year, however, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's reform agenda has opened a window of opportunity by significantly broadening the understanding of global common security and in the process reshaping the basis for collective action by the UN. Collective security has now been linked to environmental change.

InterSecTions No. 3 illustrates how both global governance and UN reform can bring a new impetus into the field of environment and human security.

InterSecTions is distributed free. To order a printed version, contact info@ehs.unu.edu.

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InterSecTions No. 2:	Towards Freedom from Hazard Impacts - Hans Günter Brauch
InterSecTions No. 1:	Nothing Begets Nothing: The Creeping Disaster of Land Degradation - Paul L.G. Vlek

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