2. ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY: PRIORITY ISSUES AND CHALLENGES IN ROMANIA AND EUROPEAN TRANSITION COUNTRIES

摘要

There is rationale in linking environment and security issues. The management of natural resources use and extraction can have very real and concrete impacts on human health and vulnerability, both at the regional and local levels. Often the impacts of environmental degradation are disproportionately borne by poor and marginalized groups. Southeastern Europe (SEE) is a complex area, strategically located. The crisis management environment is heavily conditioned by historical political and military events including numerous armed conflicts. Specifically, it is further complicated by the collapse of the Soviet system and resultant abandonment of its political and physical infrastructure, the major changes in land use, population migrations, and changes in political jurisdictions that created ethnic minorities within and among neighboring nations. This article offers a brief introduction to environmental security (ES) issues and the challenges faced by SEE.