OVERHEATED SECURITY? The Securitisation of Climate Change and the Governmentalisation of Security

Since the mid-2000s, climate change has become one of the defining security issues in political as well as academic debates and amongst others has repeatedly been discussed in the UN Security Council and countless high level government reports in various countries. Beyond the question whether the characterisation as ‘security issue’ is backed up by any robust empirical findings, this begs the question whether the ‘securitisation’ of climate change itself has had tangible political consequences. Moreover, within this research area there is still a lively discussion about which security conceptions apply, how to conceptualise (successful) securitisation and whether it is a (politically and normatively) desirable approach to deal with climate change. The aim of this dissertation is to shed light on these issues and particularly to contribute to a more thorough understanding of different forms or ‘discourses’ of securitisation and their political effects on a theoretical and empirical level. Theoretically, it conceptualises securitisation as resting on different forms of power, which are derived from Michel Foucault’s governmentality lectures. The main argument is that this framework allows me to better capture the ambiguous and diverse variants of securitisation and the ever-changing concept of security as well as to come to a more thorough understanding of the political consequences and powerful effects of constructing issues in terms of security. Empirically, the thesis looks at three country cases, namely the United States, Germany and Mexico. This comparative angle allows me to go beyond the existing literature on the securitisation of climate change that mostly looks at the global level, and to come to a more comprehensive and detailed understanding of different climate security discourses and their political consequences. Concerning the main results, the thesis finds that climate change has indeed been securitised very differently in the three countries and thus has facilitated diverse political consequences. These range from an incorporation of climate change into the defence sector in the US, the legitimisation of far-reaching climate policies in Germany, to the integration of climate change into several civil protection and agricultural insurance schemes in Mexico. Moreover, resting on different forms of power, the securitisation of climate change has played a key role in constructing specific actors and forms of knowledge as legitimate as well as in shaping certain identities in the face of the dangers of climate change. From a normative perspective, neither of these political consequences is purely good or bad but highly ambiguous and necessitates a careful, contextual assessment

Environmental Impact of Oil Crops and Biofuels

Studies on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of bioenergy chains based on dedicated crops in temperate climates show that biodiesel scenarios are generally less impacting than other possible energy chains, both in 1st generation and in 2nd generation biofuel settings. Considering the cropping techniques described for large scale farming in the previous chapters, a comparison of the environmental impacts of oil crops \u201cfrom cradle to farm gate\u201d was performed using the LCA methodology. More to this, a family farming scenario leaving manpower impact apart was calculated for comparisons with large scale farming systems. The phases and methods of LCA are described; a \u201ccradle to farm gate\u201d approach was adopted in the impact assessment of the oil crops. Results were standardized, i.e. reported in kg of equivalent reference substance, and normalized, i.e. weighted on the average level of emissions of one world inhabitant. Results are displayed both on both a surface (hectare) and energy (GJ) basis. The category most affected by agricultural processes is eco-toxicity of marine waters, although the primary cause of this emission is P fertilizer manufacture, which is upstream cropping. On a surface basis, the most impacting scenario was sunflower, in all considered categories, and in general both annual crops (sunflower and soybean) showed similar results. On an energy basis, the most impacting scenario was still sunflower under all impact categories, but the remaining scenarios show significant differences in comparison with the analysis on hectare basis: soybean showed emissions levels 40 to 60% lower than sunflower, although only one third of the emission per ha was allocated to oil production, the rest being spent for protein. Perennial crops showed high benefits respect to annual ones also on energy basis. A last topic addressed in this chapter is indirect land use change (ILUC). To convert land use change into consequent GHG emissions, a conversion factor must be applied. The level of GHG emissions associated with land use change will vary depending on previous land use; therefore, there is a wide range of possible conversion factors. GHG emissions are not the only impact of ILUC. Biodiversity is also adversely affected by land conversion in the form of ecosystem degradation and habitat loss. Biodiversity and ecosystems\u2013and the services they provide are closely connected to each other and to the climate system. Biodiversity is crucial for both mitigation of and adaptation to climate change. However, the substitution of many food crops (e.g., cereals) with energy crops often requiring less fertilizers and pesticides, determines a net benefit in terms of biodiversity. Another way of limiting ILUC consequences would be shifting to second generation biofuels, which are now on the eve of diffusion in advanced countries

Introduction into Food vs. Fuel Discussion and possible Solution Strategies

\u201cFood vs. fuel\u201d summarizes the growing debate concerning the risk of shifting farmland or food crops to biofuel production, decreasing the food supply on a global scale. The international discussion has brought to different positions, each having some good and valid points. Research efforts are currently being deployed in the production of second generation biofuels from non-food crops, crop residues and wastes, which could better harmonize farming for food and for fuel. Moreover, electricity could be generated in situ, being beneficial for rural areas in developing countries. The debate reached a global scale during the 2007\u20132008 world food price crisis. The settlement of food prices despite a growing use of farmland for biofuel production (more than twice larger surfaces) is consistent with several studies showing that biofuel production can significantly be increased without raising agricultural land use. 75%. Food commodity prices were relatively stable after reaching lows in 2000 and 2001. Therefore, rapid food price increases occurring in 2007/2008 were considered unusual. Beyond discussions on food/fuel competition, other important factors, influencing food prices, must be taken into account. As a whole, it may be concluded that developing economies increase their demand of both energy and food, amplifying the market price volatility of food commodities, whose production cannot be regulated in short-term periods

Social Aspects

The economic advantages of producing biofuels for the community are maximized through local investment, ownership and the creation of jobs, all of which keep profits within the community. Other important social issues, such as off-grid electricity and fuel for grain processing, can bring a wide range of welfare benefits to remote rural areas. Among biofuel scenarios, biodiesel and vegetable oil seem to be preferable concerning social issues, with respect to bioethanol. For instance, the Brazilian agro-energy plan 2006-2011 addresses specific issues of social improvement in association with biodiesel development. In Africa, some studies referring to the situation of Mozambique showed that the development of biofuel production can lead to significant welfare benefits. However, considerable risks associated with biofuel crops are worth mentioning. Social risks comprise effects of land use changes, particularly if indigenous people are expropriated and pressure is put on scarce natural resources such as water and good quality soil. Food insecurity is an issue receiving more and more attention. Furthermore, food prices can rise, putting more pressure on poorer communities in urban areas. It may be concluded that in the mid to long term the biofuels may lead to significant social benefits, especially in developing countries. However, the expansion of this sector must be strictly ruled by adequate policy: primarily to control the share of food vs. fuel in the allocation of cropland; secondly, to avoid unbalances in income distribution; thirdly, to insure that land ownership and rights are respected and that welfare and security of local communities are held as key issue of any initiative. Several case studies are presented, to better elucidate the concepts: among the favourable cases, a community project in Mozambique (ADPP Project, Bilibiza), the transformation of local Jatropha into electricity in Mali (Practical Action Consulting, 2009), biofuels and gender issues in India (Banda et al., 2009). Among the unfavourable cases, labour and human rights in Brazil (Amnesty International Report, 2008), elephants under threat in Ethiopia (FoE, 2010) and planting Jatropha in India (FoE, 2009)

Respirometric index and biogas potential of different foods and agricultural discarded biomass

The biological stability of biomass is an important parameter for treatment plant design, process control or compost use. Measuring the biological reactivity of waste with the help of indicators such as respirometric indexes (RI) becomes an important tool to prevent the significant environmental impact of biodegradable wastes in accordance with European legislation. The aim of this paper is to show the importance of the RI technique as a tool to establish further uses of biomass such as fertilizer or biogas. The respirometric process length for different types of biomass (grape marc, apple pomace and olive pomace) was quantified. Higher moisture content seemed to favor the biological activity during the respirometric experiments and shorten the length of the process. The duration of olive pomace respirometry did not exceed 3 days, while the respirometric activity of apple scraps the lasted approximately 2 days. The highest RI values were encountered for the apple pomace, 4888 mgO2\ub7kgVS -1\ub7h-1. The majority of the discarded biomasses are categorized in the third class of stability materials in the course of degradation. This technique is important to detect the biodegradability of substrates, as well as to gain insight into the quantity and generation rate of biogas produced, information that is important from an engineering management perspective

Security governance : making the concept fit for the analysis of a multipolar, global and regionalized world

Recently introduced in the academic and political debate, the concept of “security governance” still needs to be clarified. In particular, to make the concept more useful for an assessment of current security dynamics, four main shortcomings need to be overcome: in the first place, attention has been devoted more to “governance” than to “security”, while greater attention should be paid to how security is understood and perceived by the actors involved in the governance system. Second, the literature is divided in two main branches, one looking at security governance predominantly by/through governmental organizations and one dealing with non-state actors: attempts should be made to give sense of coordination efforts (or lack thereof) among different actors and layers of governance, even when focussing attention predominantly on one type of actor (e.g. regional state powers). Third, the literature (with notable exceptions though) has predominantly focused on Europe and the transatlantic area: an effort should be made to look at extra-European dynamics, also with an aim to evaluate the relationship between political/security culture and security governance, as well as between political/economic development and security governance. Finally, the literature on security governance has been too often detached from reflections over regionalism, while it would be useful to explore further the relationship between cognitive definitions of regional and security dynamics. This is all the more important when considering the progressive emergence of non-European regional powers, possibly interpreting security challenges in different terms and displaying different likelihoods and modalities to arrange coordination patterns and solve security problems