A Lot of Talk, But Little Action—The Blind Spots of Nordic Environmental Security Policy

Ecosystems and Environment Research Programme & Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS), Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland

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Sustainability 2019, 11(8), 2379; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11082379

Received: 10 March 2019 / Revised: 4 April 2019 / Accepted: 15 April 2019 / Published: 22 April 2019

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Enhancing Security, Sustainability and Resilience in Energy, Food and Water)

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Abstract

Despite an increasing recognition that environmental change may have implications for security, there only are few policies to address the issue. This article will look at environmental security policies in Finland and Sweden and propose ways to develop more effective measures. It relies on a three-level framework that aims to enable the identification of environmental security impacts by categorising them into local, geopolitical and structural ones. The article will examine present environmental security strategies and policies in Finland and Sweden, consider their efficacy for addressing various kinds of impacts and point out approaches that are currently missing. Based on the discussion, it argues that a comprehensive policy approach is needed to tackle environmental security impacts. This requires closer coordination and interchange between sectors as well as strategic intent. In addition, further research is needed on the structural impacts of mitigating and adapting to environmental change. View Full-Text

Keywords: environmental security; environmental policy; societal transformation; resilience

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

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MDPI and ACS Style

Hakala, E.; Lähde, V.; Majava, A.; Toivanen, T.; Vadén, T.; Järvensivu, P.; Eronen, J.T. A Lot of Talk, But Little Action—The Blind Spots of Nordic Environmental Security Policy. Sustainability 2019, 11, 2379. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11082379

AMA Style

Hakala E, Lähde V, Majava A, Toivanen T, Vadén T, Järvensivu P, Eronen JT. A Lot of Talk, But Little Action—The Blind Spots of Nordic Environmental Security Policy. Sustainability. 2019; 11(8):2379. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11082379

Chicago/Turabian Style

Hakala, Emma, Ville Lähde, Antti Majava, Tero Toivanen, Tere Vadén, Paavo Järvensivu, and Jussi T. Eronen 2019. "A Lot of Talk, But Little Action—The Blind Spots of Nordic Environmental Security Policy" Sustainability 11, no. 8: 2379. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11082379

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