Seminar Abstract

The environmental crisis is increasing risks to security and peace worldwide, notably in countries that are already fragile. Indicators of insecurity such as the number of conflicts, the number of hungry people and military expenditure are rising; so are indicators of environmental decline, climate change, biodiversity, pollution and other areas. In combination, the security and environmental crises are creating compound, cascading, emergent, systemic and existential risks. Without profound changes in approach by institutions of authority, risks will inevitably proliferate quickly.

Environment of Peace: Security in a New Era of Risk surveys the evolving risk landscape and documents a number of developments that indicate a pathway to solutions––in international law and policy, in peacekeeping operations and among non-governmental organizations. It finds that two principal avenues need to be developed: (a) combining peacebuilding and environmental restoration, and (b) effectively addressing the underlying environmental issues. It also analyses the potential of existing and emerging pro-environment measures for exacerbating risks to peace and security. The findings demonstrate that only just and peaceful transitions to more sustainable practices can be effective––and show that these transitions also need to be rapid.

About the Speakers

Dan Smith is the Director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). He has researched and written on security, conflict and peace for four decades. He served four years in the UN Peacebuilding Fund Advisory Group, two as Chair (2010–2011). He was part-time Professor of Peace and Conflict at the University of Manchester from 2014 to 2017. Before taking up his post at SIPRI, he was Secretary General of the London-based peacebuilding NGO, International Alert (2003–2015) and Director of the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (1993–2001). His most recent book is the 10th edition of The State of the World Atlas (2020).

Ambassador Härstedt has held a number of parliamentary and governmental functions. Prior to his accreditation to Singapore, Ambassador Härstedt served as the Special Envoy of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office. In addition, he remains the Swedish Government’s Special Envoy for the Korean Peninsula.

From 1998 to 2018 Härstedt was a Member of Parliament and served on the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committees. From 2010 to 2018, Härstedt was a member of the Swedish Parliamentary Delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA) and acted as head of delegation from 2014 to 2018. Härstedt was OSCE PA Vice-President from 2015 to 2018. Härstedt took part in 19 international election observation missions and led three of them. Other experiences include serving as political advisor in various parts of the Swedish Government offices, including the Prime Minister’s Office. Härstedt has also been President of Swedish UNICEF and board member of the Swedish National Institute for public health, SIDA, the Swedish Institute and more. Härstedt is an experienced and skilled negotiator.

Ambassador Härstedt has studied Political Science and East and Southeast Asian Program at Lund University.

Ambassador Härstedt has one son.

About the Chairperson

Mely Caballero-Anthony is Professor of International Relations and holds the President’s Chair of International Relations and Security Studies at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.  She is also Head of the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University. Prof Anthony is currently a member of the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network on Nuclear Non-Proliferation (APLN) and is Secretary-General for the Consortium on Non-Traditional Security Studies in Asia (NTS-Asia).  From 2013 to 2017, Prof Anthony served on the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters (ABDM) and was its Chairperson in 2016.  She was Director of External Relations at the ASEAN Secretariat from 2011-2012.

Her research interests include regionalism and multilateralism in Asia-Pacific, global governance, human security and non-traditional security, nuclear security and conflict prevention.   She has published extensively on a broad range of political and security issues in Asia-Pacific in peer-reviewed journals and international academic presses. Her latest books, both single-authored and co-edited, include: Nuclear Governance in the Indo-Pacific (Routledge,  2022), Negotiating Governance on Non-Traditional Security in Southeast Asia and Beyond (NY: Columbia University Press, 2018), An Introduction to Non-Traditional Security Studies (London: Sage Publications, 2018), Human Security and Climate Change (UK: Routledge, 2013).