Development Of Environmental Security

Globally, the environment is the custodian of all our necessities and continues to provide for our sustenance.

Unfortunately, human actions and unintended consequences fundamentally undermine the “safe planetary space” upon which our well-being had depended in huge and consequential ways. With reference to Ghana our dear country, people do not take cognizance of the fact that, the environment is the basis of our existence! Indeed, the safety and security that the environment has provided humans over the period of time cannot be measured.

National Security is increasingly confronted with climatic issues, ecologically induced migration, violent conflicts, organised crimes, arms trade and other security concerns. It is important to understand that security issues have been of interests to international environmental laws and regulatory systems. These regulatory systems and legislations are critically used to reduce harm to social control. Scholarly indication by Shearing, 2015 p.260 stresses that, Security is viewed as “a securing condition that will promote the presence of credible assurances of safe spaces within which people can live, work and play.”

In Ghana, the season has ushered us into intense rains and its attendant challenges and difficulties. Let’s not forget about the tragedy of Black Wednesday, June 3rd 2015 in our history as a nation and the May 9 Stadium disaster at the Accra Sports Stadium respectively. In recent times, security has been layered with additional environmental concerns with the environment becoming an object to be protected and a source of insecurity. Environmental security is classified as a ‘ polysemous ‘ concept with a wide range of analytical and normative meanings. Regardless of these interconnections, the environment should be maintained properly and secure against insecurity, fear, panic, and waste.

The environment becomes a component of state survival. Therefore, the environment must not be seen as a cause or contributing factor to hazards, migration crises, and conflicts. It must be noted however that, in approaching environmental security, governments must enact stringent environmental laws and systems that can easily protect the environment and its affiliated agencies. In practice, security is linked to the environment for peace, stability and sustainable national development.

Bureau of Security Advocacy & Consultancy (BUSACgh) therefore posits that, human interference in all aspects of nature including the production of food crops, construction of infrastructure, extraction of natural resources (both legal and illegal-galamsey) must be properly checked by the state for the protection of lives. BUSACgh calls for a concerted effort by all agencies to collaborate to deal with the myriad of sector-specific securities that have emerged in the environmental space. Government must also engage qualified Security Advocacy bodies to intensify the understanding of environmental security and its implications on the state.

David Wilson Asetena-Krah

(Executive Chairman and Founder)

BUSACgh