Environmental Security and Environmental Management: The Role of Risk Assessment: Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workhop on The Role of Risk Assessment in Environmental Security and Emergency Preparedness in the Mediter(Nato Security through Science Series C:)

The concept of “environmental security” has emerged as one basis for understanding international conflicts. This phrase can mean a variety of things. It can signify security issues stemming from environmental concerns or conflicting needs, or it can mean that the environment is treated as a resource for the long term, and the question is what should be done today to preserve the quality of the environment in the future. In the same way that energy security is about ensuring access to energy for the long run, it can also mean that pressing environmental concerns create a situation where different countries and communities are forced to collaboratively design a unified response, even if cooperation is not generally in the logic of their relations. Over the last several years, the authors of this book and their colleagues have tried to demonstrate the power of risk assessment and decision analysis as valuable tools that decision makers should use for a broad range of environmental problems, including environmental security. Risk analysis is almost more a state of mind or a way of looking at problems than it is a kind of algorithm or a set of recipes. It projects a kind of rationality on problems and forces a certain degree of quantitative rigor, as opposed to the all too common tendency of making environmental recommendations based on anecdotal evidence.

Table of Contents:
Environmental Security.- ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY, CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND RISK ASSESSMENT: DEFINITIONS AND CURRENT TRENDS1.- SECURITY AND THE ENVIRONMENT IN THE MIDDLE EAST WATER ISSUES.- POTENTIAL OF SOLAR THERMAL DESALINATION TO DEFUSE WATER AS A CONFLICT ISSUE IN THE MIDDLE EAST Proposal for Functional Cooperation in the Gulf of Aqaba.- WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY IN MEDITERRANEAN TRANSBOUNDARY RIVER BASINS.- THE ROLE OF COMPARATIVE RISK ASSESSMENT IN DECISION ANALYSIS MARSHLANDS OF MESOPOTAMIA AND AFFECTED RIPARIAN COUNTRIES.- A FUTURE FOR THE DEAD SEA BASIN: OPTIONS FOR A MORE SUSTAINABLE WATER MANAGEMENT.- ARE STANDARD RISK ACCEPTABILITY CRITERIA APPLICABLE TO CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE BASED ON ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY NEEDS?1.- FROM GLOBAL WARMING TO WATER SCARCITY: WHAT ARE THE MOST URGENT ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS OF THE REGION. Report of the Discussion Group on Environmental Security.- Environmental Security, Critical Infrastructure and Risk Assessment: Definitions and Current Trends.- Environmental Management.- THE INTERCONNECTION BETWEEN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT ECOLOGY AND HEALTH.- Security and the Environment in the Middle East Water Issues.- Potential of Solar Thermal Desalination to Defuse Water as a Conflict Issue in the Middle East.- Water Resources Management and Environmental Security in Mediterranean Transboundary River Basins.- The Role of Comparative Risk Assessment in Decision Analysis Marshlands of Mesopotamia and Affected Riparian Countries.- A Future for the Dead Sea Basin: Options for a More Sustainable Water Management.- Are Standard Risk Acceptability Criteria Applicable to Critical Infrastructure Based on Environmental Security Needs?.- From Global Warming to Water Scarcity: What Are the Most Urgent Environmental Problems of the Region.- The Interconnection between the Built Environment Ecology and Health.- Statistical Models for Distributions of Ambient Fine Particulate Matter.- QND: A Scenario-Based Gaming System for Modeling Environmental Processes and Management Decisions.- Mapping of Relative Risk.- Understanding Risk Culture and Developing a’ soft’ Approach to Risk Assessment Methodologies.- Different Preventive Strategies Require Diversified Risk Assessment Models.- Coupling Public Participation and Expert Judgment for Assessment of Innovative Contaminated Sediment Technologies.- Environmental Risk Assessment and Management: Promoting Security in the Middle East and the Mediterranean Region.- Reuse of Wastewater in Agriculture- Economic Assessment of Treatment and Supply Alternatives as Affecting Aquifer Pollution.- Minimizing the Risks Associated with Water Scarcity.- Integrated Risk-Based Management of Water Resources in the Jordan River Basin.- Outcome of NATO Workshop on Radiological Risk in Central Asia.- Public Transport Policy & Measures That Could Improve the Air Quality in Major Cities in Syria.- Modeling the Combination of Impacts Caused by Waste Heat Discharge from Power Plant Cooling Systems into Offshore Environments.- Role of Synergy in Biological Risk Assessment.- Cooperative Network for Environmental Risk Analysis Studies: The Case of the Middle East Region.

Review :
From the reviews: "This book is the third of a series of proceedings of NATO Advanced Research Workshops … . they are stimulating and they do lead to the generation of new ideas through interactions of scientists who would not meet through their usual round of meetings. This proceedings volume reflects that dynamic. … The 2 authors optimistically anticipate … increased trans-boundary cooperation in general which would promote peace and economic development. I am inspired by their vision of bringing enlightenment values and approaches … ." (Glenn Suter, Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, Vol. 4 (2), 2008)