Countries should try to rebuild their land borders as a deterrent to invasion and build other geographical defenses to attack, Europe’s environment chief has said.
Jessika Roswall, EU Commissioner for the Environment, Water Resilience and Competitive Circular Economy, said nature should be used to improve national security. “Investing in nature and using it as a natural border control is necessary and actually increases biodiversity. It is beneficial for everyone,” he said.
Poland and Finland, which share land borders with Russia or its allies, have rebuilt areas near their borders, making invasion difficult. “I have visited them: they transfer the land to a more hostile nature, leaving bushes and trees. Then it is not so easy for others to cross it,” he told The Guardian.
Wetland restoration also provided a natural barrier, he added. “It’s very difficult for big tanks to get through.”
Roswall wants countries to treat nature as a defense asset and consider the national security implications of their environmental failures. Having a thriving natural environment is a critical part of food supply and water security, both of which should be considered essential national security assets, he said.
“We need to invest in nature. Water is the most obvious example. If we don’t have water, we don’t have (security). Look at Ukraine (where water infrastructure is under attack). It is crucial to invest in infrastructure and protect it,” he said.
Protecting towns and cities from flooding must also be seen in terms of security, he argued in an interview with The Guardian before the US-Israeli invasion of Iran. To reduce the impact of floods and droughts, “we have to invest in nature: nature-based solutions, like sponge cities,” he said. “That’s also a safety issue. It’s another part of safety.”
Many parts of Europe are already “in an absolute water crisis”, he said, due to shortages, pressure on resources and, in some cases, lack of rainfall. Although these problems vary by region, there is another problem common to all, he added, that must be urgently addressed. “If we look at pollution and water quality, we have a problem throughout Europe,” he warned. “We are at a crossroads where we really need to focus on water. We need to work together when it comes to water scarcity, but also water quality.”
He declined to say whether the United Kingdom, whose problems with sewage pollution began before Brexit but have received government attention since leaving the EU, should try to nationalize its water industry, which is the norm in EU states. “The main goal is to have affordable water for everyone, we are not dealing with who manages the water plants.”
Roswall also wants the EU to address the issue of “permanent chemicals”, known as Pfas, which have not been subject to strict controls to date and whose risks to human health, through water and soil contamination, have only recently been understood. “I’m really trying to expedite this, so we can give some authorization and guidance this year,” he said.
He singled out the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries as two potential polluters that should have to pay for the cleanup, but said others could also be affected, as well as governments. “The cleanup is bigger than that, because we have a lot of contaminated hotspots where we probably don’t know who the polluter is. And at the end of the day, some of this might have to be paid for with public money.”
Roswall downplayed disputes between the UK and EU over the UK’s divergence from the EU’s high environmental standards since Brexit, and insisted the EU was not backing down on its green agenda in the face of opposition from right-wing populists.
“I have met Emma Reynolds (UK Environment Secretary) many times and I think we both share the same vision of the goals: that having high ambition when it comes to environmental standards is a necessity, not only for the planet but also for our industries, (which are) dependent on a healthy environment,” she said. “It’s not just a good thing to have: it’s about our prosperity, our competitiveness and our security.”
He added: “We are not going to back down (from efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect nature). We are doing it in a green and clean way. We are focusing on implementing (environmental standards), but we have to do it in an efficient and simplified way. We do it because our industries are making the green transition, knowing that this is the most competitive advantage they have in the world we live in.”
