Environmental issues must be approached as security issues, experts attending the International Security Symposium on Environmental Challenges and Solutions said.

The event, organized by the Center for Security Policy Studies of George Mason University Korea and George Mason University, was held in Incheon on May 22. 

“Climate change and environmental challenges now need to be addressed as security issues,” said Ellen Laipson, a former intelligence adviser to US President Barack Obama and current director of the center at George Mason University, in her keynote speech.

“It is time to look at climate issues from a ‘security’ perspective as it is impacting national security, military assets, as well as social and diplomatic issues.”

The event also saw discussions with experts including Lee Tae-dong of Yonsei University, and Ahn Chang-woo and Ming Wan of George Mason University.

At the event professor Andrew Light of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, focused on the US and China’s positions on global climate change, saying the two countries’ policies should be watched closely.

“The political role of the US and China with regard to global climate change is growing,” Light said, saying the two countries’ ambitions on the world stage “may unexpectedly be moving in the same direction.”

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)