Environmental security, as currently conceived., is rooted in the assumption that it is increasing populations, combined with static or declining resource bases, that are the real cause of most current and future conflicts. This is simply the restatement, on the global level, of a local theory-The Theory of Himalayan Environmental Degradation-which we already know is invalid. This does not mean that the environment is irrelevant to security, and that human ingenuity will always create resources sufficient for us to resolve any crisis: that is an equally invalid line of reasoning. The rejection of both these mutually contradictory orthodoxies, and their replacement by the more discerning, reflexive, and socially-informed understanding that has been pioneered by those responsible for the demolition of the Theory of Himalayan Environmental Degradation, is the key to a properly founded and useful notion of environmental security.
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