Grounding Security, Securing the Ground

摘要

I would like to open these lines by paying tribute to the Government of Spain which brought the bottom line challenge of land and water scarcity on the agenda of the international security debate. The adoption of the Madrid Declaration on Environment and Security by the 56 ministers of the OSCE membership is an expression of this achievement. Spain has provided true guidance as a thought leader in it dual capacity as OSCE and UNCCD Chair. The responsiveness of the OSCE and NATO is an encouragement for those of us who have been dealing with these issues for some time now. In presenting the Fourth Global Environmental Outlook last October, the UNEP Executive Director sums up with a warning call: "the human population is now so large that the amount of resources needed to sustain it exceeds what is available at current consumption patterns". It is fair enough to conclude that the planet is stressed. Here in Valencia we are looking at these stress factors at the scale of a particularly fascinating region, the Mediterranean. We trust this review can inspire similar analysis to foster cooperation in other regions.