Rita Floyd is a Birmingham Fellow in Conflict and Security at the Department of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Birmingham, UK. Richard A. Matthew is a Professor in the Schools of Social Ecology and Social Science at the University of California at Irvine, and founding Director of the Center for Unconventional Security Affairs (www.cusa.uci.edu).
This is an important volume that provides a comprehensive overview of research on environmental security. Its coverage of the diverse theoretical and empirical approaches to environmental security is unique and very helpful, as is its systematic examination of key issues areas, including climate change, energy, food, gender, population, and water. Professor Jon Barnett, Department of Resource Management and Geography, The University of Melbourne, Australia. For decades a debate has raged over the nature of the links between environmental stress and various forms of security. Scholarship on the topic has now fragmented into many specialized subfields that rarely engage with each other. Environmental Security is a comprehensive, accessible, and current survey of this research landscape-an essential guide to a vitally important and enormously complex topic, for students and established researchers alike. Professor Thomas Homer-Dixon, Balsillie School of International Affairs, Waterloo, Canada. This anthology arrives at a critical time when pundits, policymakers and Western defense interests are increasingly linking climate change to security threats, especially in the Global South. What do past debates about environmental security have to teach us about present controversies? By presenting and analyzing a wide range of perspectives, Environmental Security is a valuable scholarly contribution, equally useful in the classroom and the policy arena. Betsy Hartmann, Professor of Development Studies and Director of the Population and Development Program, Hampshire College, USA. This timely volume provides a critical and comprehensive overview of the growing field of environmental security studies. The rich collection discusses the pros and cons and bridges the deep divisions regarding the concepts of security, conflict and peacebuilding. The authors address the research gaps and analyse specific issues of water, food, population, gender and climate change. Jurgen Scheffran, Adjunct Associate Professor and Senior Research Scientist in the Program in Arms Control, Disarmament and International Security at the University of Illinois, USA.