Securitization of Environmental Problems in the Mediterranean Sea Basin
Securitization of Environmental Problems in the Mediterranean Sea Basin

Summary/Abstract: Securitization of environmental problems in the Euro-Mediterranean area (Euromed) seems to be a crucial issue that impacts stabilization of this region in the 21st century. The European Union, as the main actor in this field, regularly declares and stresses that lack of natural environment protection and of preventive actions undertaken by the states of the Mediterranean Sea Basin’s southern flank will transform into an existential threat to the security of this common region. Such a declaration on being endangered formulated by the states of its northern flank, i.e. European part of the Mediterranean, is a kind of a speech act (securitization). Thus, this paper aims to analyze securitization of environmental threats in the Euromed. Firstly, it needs to explain and present the evolution of security itself and its widening scope (environmental dimension). In order to examine the securitization of environmental problems, an analysis of the specific functional and institutional structure of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) is required.

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