Rethinking Security: Saving the Biosphere to Save Ourselves

Le président du Brésil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, lors de la photo officielle du Sommet sur le climat (COP30). Parc de la Ville – Belém. Crédit photo: Ricardo Stuckert / PR (Lula oficial)

As the world plunges into a new arms race and a renewed focus on state security, the environmental agenda is increasingly being pushed to the margins. However, the issue of human security in the face of climate change remains one of the main environmental concerns - yet human security alone is not enough. COP30 in Belém, which will open in a few days,  represents a crucial moment. To be truly effective, COP30 must take into account not only the protection of humanity, but, more broadly, the protection of the entire biosphere. 

During the Cold War, security was defined primarily through traditional approaches centered on the state and military power. Realism prevailed, with the defense of national interests and the balance of power seen as the main guarantors of stability. A more liberal conception, focused on the stability of the international order and embodied by certain institutions or treaties, also existed but remained closely tied to the state. As scholar John Lewis Gaddis explained, the rigidity of the bipolar system prevented the emergence of alternative approaches. 

The post-Cold War era opened up new horizons. The end of bipolarity allowed other issues to come to the fore: poverty, development, health, migration, international justice, and above all climate change. Driven by critical and constructivist theories, these developments fostered the emergence of new approaches no longer focused solely on the state but on the individual, humanity, and the biosphere. Two perspectives emerged: human security and ecological security. 

Human security, or environmental security, focuses on protecting individuals from various threats food, health, environmental, political). However, this often leads to prioritizing immediate human needs, which can result in environmental degradation. Furthermore, human security does not envisage its action outside of the military sector, one of the most polluting in the world. Consequently, this concept remains marked by an anthropocentric vision: the environment is considered primarily as a framework that must be protected to ensure human well-being, which can lead to neglecting the long-term sustainability of ecosystems. 

Ecological security goes further. It criticizes the dualism between humans and nature and considers that the ecological crisis stems precisely from this separation. As scholar Simon Dalby put it, “we are part of nature; it’s part of us.” From this perspective, humans and nature form an inseparable whole: protecting ecosystems and biodiversity is synonymous with protecting human life itself. Ecological security thus challenges both the militarized vision of traditional approaches and the anthropocentrism of human security. Rather than resorting to “green militarism” (such as military assistance during disasters or the securitization of migration flows), it promotes international cooperation, social and environmental justice, and resilient development. This perspective highlights the injustice of climate change, which affects poo populations the most, despite their limited contribution to the crisis: 21 million people have already been displaced by climate-related disasters, mainly in the Asia-Pacific region.  

Post-Cold War security is no longer limited to the defense of states. Ecological thinking requires a profound reconfiguration, broadening the notion of security to include global issues and emphasizing the interdependence between human societies and natural systems. In this sense, COP30 carries high expectations: it embodies the opportunity to align global climate governance with ecological security by placing forests, oceans, biodiversity, and climate justice at the center of international action. Ecological security challenges traditional paradigms by proposing a cooperative, inclusive, and sustainable vision focused not only on the survival of states but on that of the entire biosphere.