Biodiversity Crisis as a National Security, Foreign Policy Agenda

Nov 2 , 2024
By Hailemariam Desalegn

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Our long-term prosperity and the well-being of future generations are in jeopardy, as biodiversity loss and the collapse of critical ecosystems threaten our environment and raise risks for the economy, public health, national security, and global stability. At the 2024 United Nations Biodiversity Conference, held in Cali, Colombia, leaders should meet this crisis with the level of political commitment and funding it warrants.

Biodiversity is often understood in terms of the variety of life on Earth – the number of species of plants, animals, and microorganisms. Its significance cannot be overstated. Biodiversity underpins the ecosystem services that sustain human life, such as water purification, flood control, and climate regulation. The rapid decline of species and ecosystems – one million plant and animal species are on the brink of extinction - thus amounts to an existential threat.

If left unaddressed, biodiversity loss will accelerate climate change and amplify its consequences, contributing to more natural disasters and market shocks. It will also leave our agricultural systems increasingly vulnerable to hazards — from pests and pathogens to extreme weather — and deplete the ocean of critical fish stocks. This will affect both the price and availability of food, causing scarcity in the Global South and compounding insecurity in already fragile societies.

These trends will leave a growing number of people with little choice but to flee their homes in search of better living conditions. According to the Institute for Economics & Peace, natural disasters and other ecological threats could displace as many as 1.2 billion people by 2050. These “environmental refugees” could destabilise destination countries, strain international relations, and challenge security frameworks. As the planet’s total habitable area shrinks, and competition for resources grows, conflict will become all but inevitable.

Biodiversity loss also threatens public health, which is inextricably linked to the ecosystems surrounding us. Many diseases, including emerging infectious diseases such as mpox, can be tied directly to changes in biodiversity. As habitat destruction forces wildlife closer to human populations, the risk of zoonotic diseases like COVID-19 rises.

It is estimated that tackling the biodiversity crisis will require an additional 700 billion dollars annually by 2030. Fortunately, at the 2022 UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15), world leaders agreed to close this gap by phasing out or repurposing harmful subsidies worth half a trillion dollars and raising the remaining 200 billion dollars. Financing from developed economies to their developing counterparts is supposed to reach at least 20 billion dollars yearly by next year and at least 30 billion dollars a year by 2030.

That might seem like a lot, but it is peanuts compared to the cost of inaction. According to projections by the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford, the shocks to the global economy caused by biodiversity loss and ecosystem damage could cost as much as five trillion dollars over five years. The world’s biodiversity-financing needs are also dwarfed by its current defence spending, which totalled 2.24 trillion dollars in 2022. Since investing in nature amounts to one of the most cost-effective long-term defence strategies, it should be embraced by the world’s foremost defence spenders, beginning with the United States.

As with any good security strategy, finance must be paired with international cooperation. The consequences of biodiversity loss know no borders. Countries should cooperate to protect critical habitats, enforce environmental regulations, and promote sustainable development practices.

As such, multilateral groups, such as the High Ambition Coalition for Natural & People, could continue to take the lead in forging international agreements and action plans that establish biodiversity conservation as a cornerstone of global security. Policymakers should continue to focus on working to meet the biodiversity framework’s "30x30" target, by encouraging and facilitating government action to protect 30pc of the planet’s land and ocean by 2030. Members from the Global North should increase financial support for countries in the Global South to implement necessary designations, specifically by meeting their commitment to deliver at least 20 billion dollars of nature finance annually by 2025.

Finally, we should engage and inform the public. Education and awareness campaigns explaining the importance of protecting biodiversity can empower individuals and communities to advocate for policies that protect our natural resources, helping generate the necessary political will. If an enemy state threatened the economy, public health, national security, and global stability, we would throw everything we had at it to defend ourselves. The biodiversity crisis is no different.

To prevent such a future, all countries should recognise biodiversity loss as a security issue. This means integrating biodiversity considerations into defence and foreign policymaking. It also means financing the response, including investments in practices that protect ecosystems and ambitious measures to address the root causes of biodiversity loss, such as habitat destruction and climate change, as robustly as they would for any other security crisis.

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PUBLISHED ON Nov 02,2024 [ VOL 25 , NO 1279]

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