Global Ecological Security

It refers to that the eco-environment required for human survival and development on a global scale is in a state free from damage or threats or of being less damaged and threatened, that is, the degree of protection of human production, life and health from ecological damage and environmental pollution, including basic elements such as drinking water and food safety, air quality and green environment. Global ecological security is divided into two categories: element security and functional security. Element security refers to security issues caused by changes in one or more parameters such as cosmic radiation, sunlight, soil, water, air, vegetation, etc. Functional security refers to the functional indicators of local or global eco-environment, such as security issues caused by changes in parameters such as human and animal and plant growth suitability, and the order and disorder degree of the material circulation state on the earth's surface, etc. Ecological security is an evolutionary process of human ecological system from element security issues to functional security issues. Since the end of the 20th century, the impact of human activities has for the first time exceeded the impact of evolution in nature.

The element insecurity of ecological security is often local, and the functional insecurity of ecological security is often holistic, even global. A country can neither be spared alone, nor fundamentally solve the problem of ecological security. To ensure its own ecological security, a country often must take into account of the area, region, country or even the world. Therefore, the construction of ecological civilization in the sense of ecological security must also be globalized. Only by establishing a global ecological civilization view can globalization of ecological security be realized. With the increasing global environmental and resource crisis, the issue of ecological security has become a hot issue of concern to all countries in the world. Ecological security is generally considered to have two basic meanings: the first is to prevent the threats posed by degradation of the eco-environment to the foundation of the economy, mainly referring to that degraded environmental quality status and reduced natural resources impair the support capacity for the sustainable development of the economy; the second is to prevent environmental problems from causing people's dissatisfaction, especially the generation of a large number of environmental refugees, thus affecting social stability. Global ecological security issues have the natures of globality, irreversibility and long lasting character. The eco-environment is interconnected. The destruction of any local environment may lead to global disasters and even endanger the living conditions of the entire human being. Especially after the global economic integration, ecological security issues cross national borders.

The supporting capacity of the eco-environment has certain limits. Once it exceeds its own "threshold" for restoration, irreversible consequences will often occur and cannot be restored by human resources. Once many eco-environmental problems are formed, it will cost a lot of time and cots to solve them. The nature of global ecological security has two aspects, one is ecological risk, and the other is ecological vulnerability. Ecological risk characterizes the probability and consequences of environmental pressure causing harm. Relatively speaking, it highlights the hazards of emergencies, with less initiative and motivation for hazard management. Ecological vulnerability is the core of ecological security. Through vulnerability analysis and evaluation, we can know what the threat factors of ecological security are, how they work, and what coping and adaptation strategies humans can adopt. By answering these questions, we can actively and effectively guarantee global ecological security. Therefore, the scientific nature of global ecological security is to continuously improve its vulnerability and reduce its risks by various means through vulnerability analysis and evaluation.

The main countermeasures to deal with global ecological security are as follows: Countries should form a global ecological consensus, change the practice of escaping ecological responsibility, break up their own governance pattern, and form a global integrated structure of ecological governance; avoid economic integration causing global off-site pollution. Developed countries should take the responsibility for ecology and use their own capital and technological advantages to minimize environmental risks. Developing countries should consider environmental factors when attracting investment to minimize the global spread of environmental pollution; develop non-governmental ecological organizations across borders, actively promote ecological concepts, call for more public support and participation, and mobilize the people to form more eco-environmental organizations while further promoting the development of existing international environmental organizations.

The Report of the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012 proposed that we should adhere to the basic national policy of resource conservation and environmental protection, adhere to the principles of conservation priority, protection priority, and natural restoration priority, focus on promoting green development, circular development, and low-carbon development, form the spatial pattern, industrial structure, production modes and lifestyles of resource conservation and environmental protection, reverse the deterioration of the eco-environment from the source, create a good production and living environment for the people, and contribute to global ecological security.