Author Archives: Cameron Harrington

Rural water pump near Ulundi, South Africa. Source: Trevor Samson / World Bank (via Flickr)

Water Security in South Africa: The need to build social and ecological resilience

by Leave a comment

Tackling South African water insecurity will require addressing the technical deficiencies, governance gaps and social inequality that are currently having a dangerous and environmentally devastating impact. The links between environmental health and socio-political stability are clear in South Africa, where there has been an exponential increase in violent protests over poor or privatized service delivery, social marginalization, and unequal access to water. South Africa must act to solidify the links between resilient societies and resilient ecosystems.

Read Article →
Arctic Insecurity

Environmental security in the Arctic: the ‘Great Game’ vs. sustainable security

by

Arctic security remains wedded to traditional, state-centric military threats despite the fact that the threat of outright conflict is as remote as the farthest reaches of the Arctic region itself. These approaches are predictable, but they will contribute little to alleviating the complex, interrelated, and underlying drivers of insecurity in the Arctic region. Cameron Harrington argues that if our understanding of both Arctic security and the Arctic environment continues to be reduced to the international scramble for untapped resources and for newly opened “shipping lanes”, it is unlikely that the hugely alarming and damaging environmental effects of climate change will ever be truly overcome.

Read Article →