Education and its impact on security

Sciubba et. al. and Upreti examine the socioeconomic and politics of the State and international institutions affecting the environment security. Sciubba et. al. address that demographic changes with different conditions of quality influence military, environmental, political, societal, and economic security either positively or negatively. Upreti argues that the quality of governance of the State in balancing economic, social development and environmental conservation determines the environmental sustainability. Both authors agree that the quality, specifically the education, affects the environment and human societal security.

Education has always been considered as an essential factor in every aspect in human security. Sciubba et. al. state that the “quality—productivity, education, and so on” along with the quantity impacts the security. This notion of essential role of education in keeping stability and security is also implied in Upreti’s reading. He states that “more attention must be given to ensuring that the practitioner communities of the developing world have sufficient, appropriate knowledge to lay the foundations for and advance towards conditions of environmental security and sustainable development…” In the environmental security perspective, education is the most fundamental and practical way of developing the quality of governance of development and sustainability, educating the ignorance of climate change and resource scarcity, and inducing the response to future environmental change.

For instance, before taking this course and having access to the materials related to environment and environmental security, I had no clue about how serious the climate change, resource scarcity, and the following interstate and intrastate conflicts are. That is, when people do not have enough opportunity to have such education, it is hard for them to understand the environmental issues. Therefore, in order to change the socio-economic and political practices that block the environmental sustainability, it is important for the government to enhance the education about the environmental security and to organize various activities and forums related to the environmental issues. As the importance of education can be applied to other types of human security, such as military, political, societal, and economic securities, the education is essential so that the non-professionals or non-experts also have understanding of those issues.

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