These global environmental problems have reached such a critical stage that they are beginning to knock away the very environmental underpinnings that support Homo sapiens, and to affect the political and military decisions of nations. As a result, we must now begin to acknowledge the direct and indirect connections between environment and security in the broader sense and to address global environmental problems in ways we used to approach concerns about national security. Myers is an extremely prolific and passionate writer on environmental issues, including the links between environment and international security. In this book, he summarizes much of the work done over the last several years by weaving together information on critical environmental problems with his personal recollections and reminiscences. Our security is related directly to the security of the developing world. . . .
Security is development, and without development there can be no security.
Ullman went on to describe a much broader range of issues, including a wide range of environmental and resource problems, with the potential to threaten national and international security. The author begins with a discussion of global environmental problems and an introduction to the concept of environmental security, including his own attempt to define security. The bulk of the book, however, describes regional case studies where Myers feels the links between environmental problems and international politics are the most obvious, beginning with water in the Middle East, and including Ethiopia, sub-Saharan Africa, the Philippines, the Indian subcontinent, and parts of Central and South America. He then shifts from regions to issues, and provides more detailed discussions about population, ozone, species extinction, environmental refugees, and the synergisms among these problems. In many ways, this book is a personal journey.