Sustainable security is a paradigm shift in foreign policy, economic and defense planning: it entails considering that not only diplomatic relations and military preparedness or alliances, but the full spectrum of connections between our society and the world abroad, determine the degree to which our future security and prosperity can be reasonably guaranteed.

Practices and relations that promote insecurity of the food supply in remote areas of foreign nations, or which drive unstable nations like Yemen toward total persistent clean water scarcity —the total collapse of the fresh water supply— pose a serious and measurable threat to both security and economic stability back home.

The US Department of Defense has recognized this, specifically calling for concerted national action to combat emissions-induced climate destabilization and to promote the protection of ecological systems across the world, as a matter of promoting stability and human prosperity, in order to prevent a domino effect of failing states from destabilizing the global political sphere.

Share ideas here for how to promote sustainable security, including cases where sustainability thinking is creating a framework for sustainable food, water, political and economic security…

The first key component of sustainable security policy has to be an understanding of how authoritarian structures degrade human freedom, dignity and ingenuity, and to ensure that no security policy rests on aligning with authoritarian elements in order to secure a shortcut to “perpetual peace”. Sustainable security requires planning for a sustainable peace, which rests on promotion of the Human Development Index (HDI) and other measures of real human freedom, opportunity and environmental security.