What does it mean to securitise the environment - Essay Example

It is necessary to trace safety issues on the different levels and sectors. It implies not just talking, but actions that is very important as talking can’t help anyhow: “securitization involves referring to an issue that has hitherto been conceptualized ‘only’ in political, economic, environmental or other terms as a security threat so as to heighten awareness of the issue and the urgency of taking effective action” (Scott, 2012: 230).The safety concept is not the one we can use the same approach to in different situations.

The task is to isolate every sector in order to implement the analysis of the dynamics of every sector safety, but at the same time all the sectors should form the interconnected network. Every of them is important, though traditionally military threats have always been the top priority. All the sectors should be considered both separately and in their entity while analyzing the safety. The main sectors are: a) military; b) political; c) economical; d) social; e) environmental (Kellow, 2006).

Safety is the step, which puts the politics beyond the established norms and rules of such problems resolution (Meadows, 1972). Thus, securitization of the environment can be considered as extreme politicization. Leboeuf and Broughton emphasize the necessity of securitization of the environment and new approach to it: “As health and environmental issues are increasingly considered as having an impact on our security, as they are “securitized”, such issues gain in prominence and importance on the agendas of international actors.

… as a result, many actors will alter their approach to these issues and devise new ways to address them, most notably through the freeing up and dedication of increased resources. Behavioral change could thus be understood to be stimulated, in part, by the process of securitization itself” (Leboeuf & Broughton, 2008: 18). Speaking about the possible ecological threats, we always think about “the