Natural Security

As natural resources become increasingly scarce due to population growth and unsustainable patterns of development, resource-driven conflicts will occur with increasing frequency. How we define security must account for these factors, and efforts to ensure U.S. interests must also address natural resource degradation.

One of the most critical reasons for instituting good natural resource management and protecting biodiversity in the developing world is that this is a crucial factor in conflict avoidance and regional security.

Local communities, as well as the economies of key nations and critical regions, rely on the availability of fresh water, arable land, fish stocks, biodiversity, energy, minerals and other renewable and nonrenewable resources to meet the rising expectations of a growing world population. Today, many critical resources are being depleted faster than nature can replenish them. Reliable and sustainable supplies of natural resources are by no means assured, and pressures on these resources can lead to instability and conflict if not addressed and abated. The security of nations depends increasingly on the security of natural resources, or “natural security," which
also holds wide implications for the international community, with many U.S. security and foreign policy interests also at stake.