The Case for Approaching Global Issues Systemically: International Security and Environmental Security

Peace psychologists have, traditionally, approached the issue of international peace and conflict separately from the issues of environmental destruction and third-world poverty. International security, however, is increasingly becoming a matter of environmental security, and both forms of security will depend progressively on the outcomes of third-world development. The Task Force on Peace and Sustainable Development will examine the connections among these three global issues and articulate the importance for peace psychologists to deal with them systematically. In this article, we discuss the impact of environmental degradation on international security.