The environmental crisis is increasing risks to security and peace worldwide, notably in countries that are already fragile. Indicators of insecurity such as the number of conflicts, the number of hungry people and military expenditure are rising; so are indicators of environmental decline, in climate change, biodiversity, pollution and other areas. In combination, the security and environmental crises are creating compound, cascading, emergent, systemic and existential risks. Without profound changes of approach by institutions of authority, risks will inevitably proliferate quickly. Environment of Peace surveys the evolving risk landscape and documents a number of developments that indicate a pathway to solutions––in international law and policy, in peacekeeping operations and among non-governmental organizations. It finds that two principal avenues need to be developed: (a) combining peace-building and environmental restoration, and (b) effectively addressing the underlying environmental issues. It also analyses the potential of existing and emerging pro-environment measures for exacerbating risks to peace and security. The findings demonstrate that only just and peaceful transitions to more sustainable practices can be effective––and show that these transitions also need to be rapid.

About the Environment of Peace research report ii ENABLING AN ENVIRONMENT OF PEACEemerging interconnected risks and existing policies; (b) rethink the current peace and security theory of change; (c) map out existing policy and implementation gaps; (d) consider the implications for policy approaches to enabling a peaceful environment; and (e) explore effective strategies for mobilizing collective will and action by building synergies across disciplines. The overall goal is to propose an enabling framework for action when it comes to creating, managing and sustaining an environment of peace. Key findings and emerging trends from the Environment of Peace reportUnderstanding the current and emerging issues affecting the environment and peace is a prerequisite for policy development. The first three parts of this report highlight 10 key gaps and challenges worthy of immediate policy consideration:1 Rapidly growing environmental emergencies Global data shows a sharp deterioration in the human environment over the past 50 years, constituting the biggest threat to human security. Despite the warnings given at the foundational UN Conference on the Human Environment in 1972, the human environment has, according to key metrics, continued to deteriorate-ecosystem extent and condition indicators show a 47 per cent decline, with 1 million species face extinction in the coming decades. 4 The unbridled extraction of non-renewable natural resources has further deepened environmental deterioration. 5 Humans have altered 75 per cent of the world's land surface and impacted 97.7 per cent of the oceans. 6 Estimates suggest that 33 per cent of the Earth's soil is already degraded, and more than 90 per cent of the planet's land area could be degraded by 2050. 7 Moreover, humans keep generating ever more greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Between 1980 and 2020 each decade saw higher concentrations of GHGs and an unprecedented rise in global mean surface temperatures, with current estimates suggesting a 1.1°C increase compared to pre-industrial levels 8 -the highest in 100 000 years, 9 prompting the UN Secretary-General to declare a 'code-red' for humanity. 10 An estimated 12 million hectares of land, representing a productivity potential of 20 million tonnes of grain, 11

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