Securitizing the ground, grounding security

The world is currently facing economic, population growth, climate change, water security and food crises. This paper states that the world may have reached a turning point which requires extraordinary policy measures to cope with the crises otherwise, they may result in extreme societal outcomes that may result in severe consequences for humanity. Among the crises, soil security emerges as a constitutive paradigm of human, national and international security.

The paper states that soil security calls for a political process of securitization of desertification, land degradation and drought (DLDD) issues. It also calls for the development of effective international strategies, national policies and local measures depending on the interaction between natural and societal causes. In the study, securitizing the gound refers to creating a wider global political awareness of  DLDD and their societal consequences, making combating DLDD a key international political commitment and upgrading it to the security realm.Grounding security is composed of reactive and proactive strategies for coping with soil insecurity by bringing to light its societal, environmental and economic consequences.

The paper gives specific recommendations for the UNCCD policy framework of five operational objectives for which  are as follows:

• Knowledge creation and management - calls for the setting of networks of developing country researchers, a science research programme and a UN scientific panel on DLDD. It also suggests the translation of knowledge into actionable policy advice and the initiation of studies on soil security and societal outcomes.

• Awareness Raising - involving dissemination of information on soil security issues in cooperation with universities and research institutes.

• Policy Advocacy - researching, documenting and publishing on soil security hot-spots. Inter-agency land networks should be established and international workshops should be held for exchange of practical experiences. Developed countries should fund technological proposals on the potential of renewable energies in dry-lands.

• Capacity Building - DLDD affected countries should enact legislation and strengthen capacity on soil security basing on traditional and innovative knowledge.

• Channeling Resources - calls for training in conflict resolution and identifying benchmarks for soil security to determine the allocation of resources. Local programmes should promote sustainable livelihood and additional resources should be channeled to affected rural areas for mitigation and adaptation to climate change