Environmental Security in Botswana
Abstract
The continent of Africa is important to U.S. national security interests. Long known for its influence over critical choke points and sea lines of communication, Africa is increasingly known as a land of vast stretches of under-governed spaces, burgeoning terrorist groups, world-class deposits of strategic minerals and petroleum, and the continent most affected by climate change. It is also known for high population growth rates and troubled governments struggling to maintain legitimacy. Many of the challenges to these governments originate with environmental change and a resource base eroded by high population growth rates, bad governmental policy, and environmental degradation. To maintain legitimacy, and preserve political stability, governments must satisfy demands placed on the political system by the population. In Africa, state security increasingly depends upon human security. One country in southern Africa that has succeeded in addressing this paradigm with a whole of government concept is dry and landlocked Botswana. Regional Security in Africa increasingly turns on human security. To get an inkling, one need only refer to any failed state index, which consists of focus areas such as Demographic Pressures, Refugees/Internal Displaced Persons, Group Grievances, Human Flight, Uneven Development, Economic Decline, Delegitimization of the State, Public Services, Human Rights, Security Apparatus, Factionalized Elites and External Intervention.1 Nowhere is state and regional security more of a concern than on the continent of Africa where, according to the 2011 Foreign Policy Failed State Index, seven countries rank in the top 10 and comprise 15 of the top 20 most at risk states. Many of these variables are underpinned by failed efforts to address environmental issues. Another indicator of regional instability is that seven of the 16 active United Nations peacekeeping mission are located in Africa.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2011
- Accession Number
- ADA606107
Entities
People
- Brent Bankus
Organizations
- United States Army War College