African Wildlife & Environment Issue 80

CONSERVATION

POPULATION ANDWATER AS A NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUE

Arising from that period of intense engagement, was the notion of environmental security as an element of national security. Emerging as a distinct sub-set of the evolving discourse on environmental security, was the notion of human population dynamics as a driver of risk in an environment that is also water constrained One key question emerged from this period of intense scientific engagement in support of the national When the Cold War ended, many of the intelligence services of the world were left with deep technical capacity, but a changingoperational environment. In the periodbetween the collapseof theUSSRand the removal of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and the attack on the World Trade Centre by a non-state actor in September of 2001, there was an active dialogue between all intelligence services of the world. This took place through the official liaison channels between governments, consistent with international diplomatic protocol.

Prof Anthony Turton

a given river system, which was protected by right. That reserve consisted of two distinct aspects – the ecological component and the basic human needs component. TheWater Crowding Index While the National Water Act was being drafted, prior to being promulgated in 1998, the notion of 'water crowding' emerged. This originated with a Swedish scientist named Dr Malin Falkenmark, with whom the author forged a direct and professional relationship at many levels (see Falkenmark papers in Further Reading ). Her work was unique in the sense that she asked a simple question that no other scientist had asked until that moment in time – is there a finite limit to the number of people that a given unit of water can sustain?

security discourse – can poor countries adapt to growing water scarcity? And if not, then why? This became an area of direct interest to the author, then busy with his Doctorate, but also a senior officer in the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and a founding member of the South African Secret Service (SASS) (Turton, 2021). The national security relevance of the interaction between population and the environment, was considered during the redrafting of the National Water Act (NWA) in 1998. In effect, the NWA defined the 'Reserve' as a distinct portion of the total flow of

Water Crowding as a concept is a useful way to understand the interaction between human population dynamics and water availability in a defined space like a country.

11 | African Wildlife & Environment | Issue 80 (2021)