Sri Lanka in the new Asian century: the importance of ecologically sustainable development to national security

Abstract

The increasing occurrence of natural disasters and extreme weather patterns will put enormous stress on agricultural production and thus food security in the future. The international competition for scarce resources amidst rapid growth in consumption patterns will affect Asia more than any other part of the world. Sri Lanka will be caught in the middle of both these trends as it becomes increasingly affected by economic issues (and opportunities) as well as environmental issues in the decades to come. These issues directly or indirectly translate into national security concerns. This paper looks at national security through an expanded lens from contemporary conflict and examines the importance of ecologically sustainable development as the guiding principle in forming a national security strategy. The paper will define national security in unconventional terms and discuss related threats to the national security of Sri Lanka. Open source research databases, government and multilateral organization studies and data are used to support a qualitative empirical examination of the nexus between ecologically sustainable development and security. A multi-disciplinary definition of national security using peer-reviewed and Institutional studies of unrestricted warfare and environmental security will inform a normative analysis for developing a comprehensive national security strategy framework. Current news and reporting will be used to examine the global context within which a national security strategy needs to be formed and informed.