Page:Brundtland Report.djvu/295

A/42/427
English
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35. Sophisticated weapons can help convert the potential into actual conflict. According to the UN Group of Governmsntal Experts on the Relationship Between Disarmament and Development:

There can no longer be the slightest doubt that resource scarcities and ecological stresses constitute real and imminent threats to the future well-being of all people and nations. These challenges are fundamentally non-military and it is imperative that they be addressed accordingly. If this is not recognized .... there is a grave risk that the situation will deteriorate to the point of crisis where, even with low probability of success. the use of force could be seen as a way to produce results quickly enough. This is far from being a remote possibility. In recent years. there has been a marked tendency in international relations to use or to threaten to use military force in response to non-military challenges to security.^[1]

36. The situation in many developing countries particular dangers in the context of environmental and poverty-induced stresses. Large-scale movements of refugees, competition for scarce water and fertile lands, deposits of oil and raw materials, ill-defined boundaries. and so on all add to tensions and increase possibilities for conflict. The importation of armaments by developing countries has increased also because of these real or potential conflicts. It is sometimes encouraged by the arms manufacturers because of the important profits that can themselves sustain the manufacture of arms in the exportinq countries. The export of arms have been evaluated at more than $35 billion annually. The arms trade is estimated to have absorbed over $300 billion over the last two decades, three-quarters in the form of sales to developing countries.^[2]

III. TOWARDS SECURITY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

1. Principles

37. The first step in creating a more satisfactory basis for managing the interrelationships between security and sustainable development is to broaden our vision. Conflicts may arise not only because of political and military threats to national sovereignty: they may derive also from environmental degradation and the pre. emption of development options.

38. There are, of course. no military solutions to 'environmental insecurity' And modern warfare can itself create major internationally shared environmental hazards. Furthermore, the idea of national sovereignty, has been fundamentally modified by the fact of interdependence in the realm of economics, environment, and security. The global commons cannot be managed

from any national centre: The nation state is insufficient to deal with threats to shared ecosystems. Threats to environmental security can only be dealt with by joint management and multilateral procedures and mechanisms.

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1. I. Thorsson et al., Relationship Between Disarmament and Development., Disarmament Study Review No. 5 (A/36/536) (New York: UN Department of Political and Security Council Affairs, 1982).
2. Arms Export from L.R. Brown et al., op. cit, based on U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency; estimate of cmulative spending on the arms trade in Sivard, 1985 edition, op. cit.